Where Did You Put My Keys?
by Caelion
Summary: Freshly after graduating from her high school, Ryuuko moves in to Satsuki's place in order to attend university. Little do they both know that what may interrupt their relatively bloodless coexistence, and force them to rely on each other more than ever before, is the very bond that they share. One which exceeds far beyond sisterly. Ryuuko x Satsuki, post-series.
1. Fare thee well on your journey

**A/N:** Hello~

After a long streak of writing only one-shots, I came up with an idea for a much longer story. And, since I adore KLK characters too much for my own good, I couldn't help but put it into words.

The cover image was drawn by Keou and is used with her permission (thank you!), you can find the original on her account on Pixiv under that nickname (I'm sorry I can't put a direct link here, the site doesn't allow linking to external websites). Check out her other works as well, they're all insanely amazing!

Before the story begins, **_a foreword:_**

The fic is set about a year after the 25th episode of the anime which is a period of time not officially shown to us. Needless to say, I took the liberty of shaping the characters and their goals in the way that I decided would be the closest to canon, if we ever got an unlikely continuation. So, while the characters still have their most iconic traits they had in the series, I've also added a couple of new things resulting from, however you look at it, the long time-skip between this story and the original ending.

My previous KLK fic is very loosely connected to this one, mostly in terms of how Ryuuko and Satsuki got to the point in their relation at which they are at the beginning of this story. I might refer to it here from time to time but treating it as a prequel and reading it first is not necessary as it's more of a companion piece.

Last, but not least, a word of warning: this is a story about two adult sisters living in an incestuous relationship. If that somehow rubs you the wrong way, you continue only on your own responsibility.

Without further prolonging, on with the story!

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 1: Fare thee well on your journey**_

"Ryuuko-chan, your bag is ready, are you sure you don't want us to give you a lift instead of going by train?" a kind, womanly voice caught the attention of Ryuuko who was still going through her old room to check if she hadn't left anything.

"Nah, it's okay, ma'am," Ryuuko replied and, finishing her inspection, she went outside to meet with the rest of her foster family. "You've done so much for me already," she gave them a grateful smile.

"Ryuuuuuko-chaaaaaaan!"

Unusually for her, Ryuuko allowed herself to get tackled down to the floor. She smiled, helping her friend with getting up after a moment. "Mako," she patted the girl's head. "Do your best at your uni, 'kay?"

"Will do!" Mako saluted before looking at Ryuuko with crocodile tears in her eyes. "Ryuuko-chan, take care of yourself and Satsuki-sama!"

They shared a tight hug before Ryuuko moved to her foster parents. "Mankanshoku-san," she turned to both of them. "Thanks for everything you've done," she bowed and opened her mouth to continue but Mrs Mankanshoku had pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace.

"Ryuuko-chan, you're like daughter to us," she spoke while the girl struggled to breathe.

"You can count on us any time, just give us a call," Mr Mankanshoku added, patting Ryuuko's head.

"Dad, we don't have a phone, remember?" Matarou threw in, obviously trying to stop himself from tearing up.

Mr Mankanshoku gasped loudly. "Matarou, go steal us one! And while you're at it, get one more for Mako-" he paused mid-word when his wife's hand collided with the back of his head. "Hehehe, never mind."

Let out of the hold, Ryuuko breathed in deeply to make up for the temporary loss of air and smiled at the scene in front of her.

Some things never changed.

Since Mankanshokus had insisted on walking Ryuuko off to the train station, they still could have a lively chat on their way, with mostly Mako talking about how excited she was to go to university.

"Have you decided on what you want to study, Ryuuko-chan?" the girl chirped, walking backwards in front of her friend.

Ryuuko averted her eyes. Unlike Mako, who had settled for the closest (and cheapest) option, she had chosen the same university that Satsuki had been attending for a year, and even miraculously managed to get in, but she was yet to decide what exact kind of future she wanted to pursue. "Uh, no, not yet," she replied.

"Ah! Ryuuko-chan!" Mako gasped at the response. "You have to hurry it up the semester begins soon what if you end up choosing something you hate and-"

Smiling to herself, Ryuuko listened calmly to the cascades of words flowing out of her friend's mouth. "Mako," she interrupted her eventually and reached out to pat her head. "Never change," she said before grabbing the girl's hand to keep her from tripping.

The train station wasn't far away and they reached their destination shortly after. Ryuuko swallowed thickly, realizing that the hardest part of it all was yet to come, as her train stopped in front of them with a loud squeak.

"So..." she turned around to face the people who had been taking care of her for so long. Then, she realized she had no idea what to say. "T-thanks for everything," she finally uttered clumsily.

With that, four pairs of hands pulled her into a tight, group hug.

"Take care, Ryuuko-kun!"

"Have fun, Ryuuko-chan!"

"Say hi from us to Satsuki-sama!"

They kept going until the train signaled its imminent departure. And Ryuuko probably wouldn't let go if she didn't get pushed towards the door. She threw her luggage in and, before she knew, the train began moving.

"Farewell, Ryuuko-chan!"

"Thank you for everything!" Ryuuko shouted once again, standing in the still open door of her departing train. She waved vigorously at her foster family. "Goodbye, Mako! Goodbye, Matarou! Mankanshoku-san, take care! Bye, Guts!" They kept waving to each other for as long as they could, until the train took a turn and the station couldn't be seen any more.

Ryuuko let out a sigh and turned around to get her luggage and take a sit inside an empty compartment. She smiled at the memories of the last year spent in the Mankanshoku household and felt a small tear trickling down her cheek.

"Damn, I've gotten soft," she chuckled to herself, allowing the tear to flow down nevertheless, soon enough followed by another one.

She took out her phone from her pocket and for a moment stared wistfully at the family picture she had taken before they all left for the train station. Then, she dialled a number. The only one she had saved anyway.

" _Hello?"_

"Oy, sis," Ryuuko greeted, resting her hand against a small windowsill while watching the blurry world outside. "I caught the train, should be at your place in a few hours."

" _I'm happy to hear so,"_ Satsuki's voice sounded gentle, although a bit roughed up by the speaker. _"Everything went well, I assume?"_

"Yea," the girl replied, pausing for a moment to finally wipe the two stray tears. "It was...difficult but it went okay."

" _Don't worry, Ryuuko, we can visit them whenever you feel like it."_

Ryuuko smiled at her sister's words. "Thanks, sis," she answered mildly before closing her eyes, feeling suddenly overcome with drowsiness. "I'm gonna hang up now, I had to get up early so I wanna get some rest before the train arrives."

" _Okay,"_ Satsuki said. _"Sleep well, I'll be waiting."_

"'kay," Ryuuko uttered while suppressing a yawn. "Later."

" _See you later."_

Ryuuko closed her phone and put it back in its pocket before getting more comfortable in her seat and closing her eyes again.

From one side, she was already feeling homesick after leaving Mankanshoku's crazy, yet warm, household. On the other hand, she was looking forward to all the time she would spend with her sister, finally reunited.

She smiled and, before she knew, she fell asleep.

* * *

The train shook and began slowing down, eventually stopping completely. Ryuuko opened her eyes groggily and looked around. Behind the window was slightly familiar view of the train station of the city her sister lived in.

She yawned and stretched before getting up and taking her luggage.

Ryuuko strolled through the tight, but fortunately empty, corridor of the train before she finally reached the exit. Dragging her suitcase along, she stepped on the concrete platform.

One sweep of her eyes around the station was enough to spot a tall, semi-long haired girl dressed in a classy office-like uniform, and a long coat.

Not wasting any time, Ryuuko quickly paced towards her and threw herself in the already open arms.

"Satsuki," she smiled, returning the embrace.

"Hello, Ryuuko," the girl greeted her warmly. "How was the trip?"

"Hell if I know," Ryuuko shrugged while linking her arm with her sister's and following her to the exit. "I slept through the whole thing."

The older girl laughed at her sibling's usual lack of eloquence. "Do you feel like stopping anywhere to eat or would you rather go straight to our apartment?"

Ryuuko pondered on the question for a second. She didn't have a chance to visit Satsuki's place the last time she came to the city to see the university she was going to attend. "I'm not really hungry right now," she replied eventually, her curiosity taking over. "What about you?"

"Neither am I."

"I guess it's settled then?" Ryuuko grinned and her sister nodded her head.

A short trip inside a first-class taxi later, the two of them found themselves standing in front of an impressively tall skyscraper. They stepped inside, going straight towards an empty elevator, and began a relatively long ride to the very last floor.

"You just love being on top, don't you?" Ryuuko commented while watching in awe as the number of the floors passed kept increasing to quite enormous levels.

"In more ways than one," Satsuki replied with a hint of satisfaction, enjoying the view of her sister's face slowly gaining a reddish shade.

When they emerged out of the elevator, the only way to go was either through an expensively-looking door in front of them or an entrance to the emergency staircase to their left.

Ryuuko felt her jaw dropping down when Satsuki unlocked and opened the door to their penthouse.

"Holy...shit..." she uttered, for a lack of better words, stepping inside an open hall, of a sort, that was connected to multiple different areas.

Ryuuko strolled around the enormous living room, then peeked inside the luxurious bathroom that contained a bath which resembled more a small swimming pool. Then, she inspected the kitchen which had a view on the rest of the open rooms of the apartment. She spotted a huge pair of glass door leading to a terrace, which apparently surrounded the whole place, and moved her eyes up to the ceiling that was partially made of glass, giving her a magnificent view on the sky.

"W-we're really gonna live _here_?" Ryuuko looked at her sister, still not quite believing what she had just seen.

Satsuki nodded as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Your room is there," she pointed at the closed door on the far end. "You can study there in peace, it's already fully equipped with everything you're going to need," she explained while Ryuuko just kept mumbling incoherent words of confirmation. "My room is right next to yours. You've seen the bathroom and the kitchen already, and the bedroom is here," she directed her hand towards another pair of closed doors. "Let's see," Satsuki pondered for a moment. "I guess the only things left are the terrace outside and the helicopter landing on top of the roof."

"Heli-wait, what?" Ryuuko turned rapidly towards her sister, this time actually allowing her jaw to drop down. Then, she let out a lengthy sigh. "Uh, I guess I should have seen it coming," she commented, scratching her head while casting glances at the set of beautiful crystal chandeliers hanging all around the apartment.

"It may look a bit intimidating at first but you'll get used to it quickly," Satsuki smiled, picking Ryuuko's luggage from her hand and taking it to her sister's room.

"You finally acknowledged that," Ryuuko replied while strolling behind her sister and still looking around curiously.

Stepping inside her new room was another form of shock that Ryuuko had experienced that day. Satsuki was right, it had essentially _everything_ that Ryuuko could ever need, and probably even way more than that. A huge TV, a spacious desk with basic materials, such as pencils and notebooks, already prepared on a shelf hanging above, a brand-new laptop, a comfortably-looking swivel chair.

Feeling her legs slowly giving up, Ryuuko took a sit on the nearby sofa, only then noticing how enormous in its size, and _incredibly comfortable_ , it was.

"Sats..." she began, watching as her sister casually opened her suitcase and began putting her clothes into drawers and a closet big enough to hide a good bunch of people inside. "How the hell are you able to afford all this...?"

"I just thought ahead far enough while I was still in Honnouji," Satsuki replied matter-of-factly, continuing her task.

"Oh," Ryuuko just kept staring at the girl, still deep in bewilderment.

"I'm getting hungry," Satsuki spoke as she finished unpacking her sister's things. "Want me to make you something to eat?"

Ryuuko nodded her head, quietly getting up from the sofa and following the other girl to the equally spacious kitchen. She sat down at the round table in something that resembled a dining room connected directly to the kitchen, and watched as Satsuki began preparing their meal.

"I never knew you could cook," she pointed out, raising her eyebrow at the skilful way her sister used a kitchen knife.

"Soroi went on his long-deserved retirement, I had to learn how to handle myself," Satsuki explained while chopping a green onion. "And I've always wanted to cook for my most important person," she added, turning for a moment to wink at Ryuuko.

The younger girl felt a blush creeping on her cheeks but smiled nevertheless. A year ago she would probably never believe that Satsuki could have such a delicate and feminine charm behind the cold and calculated persona she wore every day.

"What is it gonna be?" Ryuuko asked, standing up and peeking from behind curiously.

"Okonomiyaki," Satsuki replied. "I came to like the food of Kansai region. Want some meat with it?"

"You bet I do," Ryuuko grinned, resting against the counter and watching as the other girl kept cooking calmly with a small smile decorating her face.

Another gesture that Ryuuko once wouldn't believe Satsuki could do so casually.

She chuckled to herself. "Amazing how things can change."

"What do you mean?" the older girl asked, raising her brow.

"Nothing, just thinkin' about the old times," Ryuuko answered, preparing the plates and chopsticks.

It was the first time she tried her sister's food. Satsuki kept watching her with concern as she put the first piece in her mouth.

"D-delicious!" Ryuuko exclaimed, quickly going for another piece.

The older girl smiled and let out a relieved sigh. "Really? I'm glad you like it," she said and dig in her own portion.

"I shit you not, it's the best okonomiyaki I've ever had."

It didn't take them long to finish eating. Putting her chopsticks away, Satsuki sighed after she looked at her wristwatch.

"Something wrong?" Ryuuko picked up, noticing her sister's sudden change in the mood, however slight it was.

"No, it's just, I have to go in a while," Satsuki explained. "I have a business meeting in the afternoon and I can't miss it."

"Oh," the younger girl replied, motioning her sibling to stay at the table while she got up to clean the dishes. "Don' worry, I can handle myself," she said, flashing a confident grin.

"Without doubt," Satsuki chuckled. "I just hoped we could spend some more time together after your arrival. By the way," she began, watching her sister drying her hands after finishing her task. "There's a dishwasher over here."

Ryuuko opened her mouth, her ears gaining a pinkish hue.

"Ryuuko," Satsuki got up suddenly from her chair, moving towards her sibling and stopping in front of the girl, resting hands on the counter on both of her sides.

Ryuuko gulped audibly as she met her sister's eyes, sensing the subtle change in her voice. "Y-yea?" she rested her behind against the counter, allowing Satsuki to move closer to her. A frail scent of the older girl's perfumes hit her nose, making her head spin ever so slightly.

Without a word, Satsuki lowered herself, capturing Ryuuko's lips with her own. "I missed you," she whispered after she pulled back.

"M-me too," the younger girl flushed red, averting her gaze. She felt a hand cupping her chin before she got pulled into another delicate kiss. She closed her eyes, enjoying the breathtaking sensation.

"Welcome home, Ryuuko," she heard her sister's voice close to her ear before a pair of arms wrapped around her waist.

"I'm back, sis," Ryuuko replied, returning the embrace.

* * *

Ryuuko knew that her sister loved going over the top. But only after the older girl had left for her meeting did she allow herself to finally take in the fact that the luxurious apartment she got left in was really her new home.

She once again strolled around curiously, admiring how insanely spacious, and awfully rich, the whole penthouse was. Little did she know that her breath was really yet to be taken away.

When Ryuuko tentatively opened the glass door to the terrace, she felt a chilly gust of wind first thing while stepping outside. Opening her eyes, she saw the image of the very city she was in, high from above, stretching as far as her eye could see. She blinked a few times to assure herself it really wasn't an illusion before uttering in amazement, "holy shit..."

She suddenly felt like a small child seeing the big world for the first time in her life. She took one more look before shivering from the cold air and going back inside.

For some reason, the rest of the apartment suddenly appeared less intimidating than it used to.

With a whole new meaning of 'over the top' imprinted in her mind, Ryuuko directed her steps towards the bathroom. Entering it the second time wasn't as shocking as the first one, yet it still gave her a sort of overwhelming feeling.

After a quick inspection of the area, she located a shower and stripped herself naked before going inside, allowing pleasantly warm water to flow down her body. She looked around, spotting a bottle of shower cream and picking it up.

"Smells like sis," Ryuuko muttered after opening it and closed her eyes, engulfing herself in the comforting scent. She blushed hard when she realized she was acting like some old pervert, sniffing her sister's cosmetics, and began washing her body thoroughly.

Refreshed, she stepped inside her room in search for clean clothes before noticing something lying on her desk. Ryuuko moved closer, after dressing up, and let out a quiet "oh, right."

She was going to university but she still didn't know what to study.

Sitting at the desk in her new room, Ryuuko narrowed her eyes, browsing through a rather long brochure that lied open in front of her for something that had to be the hundredth time. "History...hell no...science...gotta think about it..." she muttered to herself and reached out to turn the page. "Engineering...might be interesting," she kept going, trying to find something that could actually catch her attention. "Dammit, why can't choosing a university course be an easy thing!" she exclaimed eventually, closing the brochure and propping her head on her hands in resignation.

Not even a few seconds passed when she suddenly felt a familiar presence behind her.

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders before a tongue trailed a line on the delicate skin of her neck.

"Mm, you smell nice," she heard from behind her.

Ryuuko felt shivers running down her spine while her body tensed ever so slightly.

"What are you up to, Ryuuko?" Satsuki's voice had sounded so close to the girl's ear that she almost shivered again.

"N-nothing much," she lied, feeling the blood rushing to her face when one of the hands slid from her shoulder down to her chest. "I- I didn't hear you come in."

"Mhm, we finished earlier," Satsuki let out a melodic hum before lowering herself down and planting a tender kiss on Ryuuko's neck. "In that case, how about we do something... _fun_ to celebrate you moving in?"

Ryuuko tensed up. "L-like what?" she uttered, resisting the embarrassing temptation to scold her sister for teasing her and finally get to the point instead. She cursed her own impatience.

"For instance," Satsuki began, pausing to gently nip the skin with her teeth. "I could show you our bedroom," she whispered seductively, moving on to nibble on the girl's earlobe. "What do you say?"

"O-our bedroom?" Ryuuko asked, desperately trying to keep herself from getting vocal thanks to her sister's actions. "Y-you mean we're gonna s-sleep in the same b-bed?" she stuttered as Satsuki's lips went down her neck, stopping at her collar and lingering there for a moment, leaving a small hickey.

"Are you not fond of the idea?" the older girl asked indifferently, continuing her advances by slipping one hand under her sister's shirt.

Ryuuko gulped. "I-it's not-" she uttered, trying to keep her cool but finally letting out a a quiet yelp when Satsuki's fingertips began trailing from her stomach up to her chest.

That was too much.

"F-fuck, take me there already, w-will you?" Ryuuko rasped as she quickly got up, colliding her rapidly heating up body with Satsuki's.

The other girl snickered devilishly, taking her sister's hand and leading her to another room. "You still need a little push to say what you really want," she pointed out teasingly, grinning at Ryuuko's embarrassed expression.

"Bitch," Ryuuko replied half-jokingly before they both pounced at each other with passion. "And you still push me to say these things," she said as she fell on their huge queen-sized bed with Satsuki on top.

"Have you ever regretted it?" the older girl asked, staring into her sister's eyes.

Ryuuko stared back for a moment before she cupped Satsuki's cheeks. "No," she murmured and pulled the girl into a hungry kiss before moving down to bite into her neck, certainly looking forward to the long night before them.

* * *

With a yawn, and a tired stretch, Ryuuko opened her eyes, squinting them immediately at the sunlight coming from the glassy ceiling of her new bedroom. She turned around to hide from the brightness and cuddle to Satsuki, suddenly noticing that she was actually alone in the bed.

She forced herself to open her eyes once again and looked around the empty room. She smiled when she suddenly felt heavenly smell coming from another part of the apartment through the slightly open door. Led by her nose, she got up and began searching for the source, eventually finding herself in the kitchen.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Satsuki greeted while preparing breakfast.

"Mornin'," Ryuuko replied groggily, yawning and rubbing her eyes before looking at a clock hanging on the opposite wall. "Oh shit, it's 10 already..."

The older girl nodded. "I'm leaving soon," she notified. "I have to meet up with Rei and discuss some things with her."

"Oh," Ryuuko answered, too sleepy to hide her disappointment.

"Why so blue in the morning?" Satsuki chuckled. "I'll be back before the evening. Maybe we could go shopping then?"

"Sure, why not," the younger girl sat down at the table, watching her sister with sleep still lingering on her eyes.

"Now, go wash your face while I finish making the food."

Ryuuko blushed at the child-like treatment she had just received. "Are you my mother or something?"

Satsuki frowned ever so slightly at the remark but she quickly composed herself. "No, I'm your older sister so I'm going to at least try acting like one."

"'kay, 'kay," Ryuuko gave up eventually, directing her steps towards the bathroom.

The cold water helped her with washing her sleepiness away and, after regaining an acceptable level of perception, Ryuuko went back to her sister.

The breakfast was already served by that time and, as soon as she saw it, the younger girl dug in immediately with a hasty 'enjoy'.

"You're not eating?" she looked at Satsuki up from her plate.

The older girl was sitting at the table with nothing except for a mug of tea.

"I ate already," Satsuki explained. "You weren't getting up so I figured I'd leave you the food before I go."

"Oh," Ryuuko looked at her sister with her mouth slightly parted. "T-thanks," she muttered, quickly lowering her head and continuing eating to hide her reddening cheeks.

She had to admit, she liked the times when Satsuki acted just like an older sister would. And the food she made was great, too.

"So, when does your meeting end?" Ryuuko asked, standing near Satsuki and watching as she continued putting her boots on.

"I should be back by 5," the older girl answered, buttoning up her coat. "Well then, have a nice-"

She was about to finish when Ryuuko cut her off with a brief kiss.

"T-take care, sis" she muttered, not daring to meet Satsuki's eyes.

The older girl smiled contently. "I'm off," she replied before disappearing behind the entrance door.

Ryuuko stood in place for a moment, listening to the fading clacking of her sister's heels, before she moved towards the living room and sat down on the sofa. So she had over six hours of waiting to fill up and no idea what to do in all that time.

She rested her back comfortably and closed her eyes. It didn't take long before sleepiness had overcome her again and she lied down on her side, slowly drifting off.

* * *

To say that Ryuuko was irritated was an understatement. It was utterly beyond her comprehension why, out of all times she had parted with Satsuki for days, weeks even, she had never felt as lonely without her sister as she did now.

On top of that, the time had decided to slow down on her mercilessly, to the point where glancing at the clock only irritated her further.

So when the long-awaited sound of their apartment door being unlocked came, Ryuuko was more than eager to pace to Satsuki with determination and pull her into a crushing hug from behind when the older girl was about to hang her coat.

"I see someone couldn't wait my return," Satsuki teased, turning around and embracing her sister on her own.

"Shut up," Ryuuko mumbled, not letting go nonetheless. She closed her eyes when a hand began stroking her hair.

"Thank you, Ryuuko," the older girl whispered, continuing the caresses.

"W-what are you thanking me for?"

"For waiting for me, for giving me a warm welcome," Satsuki spoke gently, making Ryuuko's cheeks colour slightly.

"A-anytime," Ryuuko muttered.

She wouldn't believe it a year ago but now she couldn't be more convinced that, beneath her mask, Satsuki was very much a delicate and emotional woman. And each time she smiled, Ryuuko's heart would skip a beat.

* * *

"What's that?" Ryuuko asked, pointing out at a pretty thick-looking folder full of papers that her sister was attentively going through.

"Business plan," Satsuki replied, not turning her sight away from the pile of documents. "Rei gave it to me earlier today, I need to go through it before it gets approved," she explained before adding regretfully, "I'm sorry, I know I promised to take you out in the evening but this can't wait."

"It's fine," Ryuuko answered and tilted her head before sitting next to her sister. "So, what do you need it for anyway?"

Satsuki finally paused her reading and rubbed her temples. "The funds that I have right now aren't unlimited," she began. "Sooner or later, we're going to run out of money. I have to come up with something to make a living."

Ryuuko chuckled to herself. She knew by now all to well that, to Satsuki, 'making a living' meant being able to afford an apartment like this, along with a private helicopter. "What's the plan then?"

"We're opening a world-wide net of shops with clothing."

Somehow that sounded way too familiar.

"Using that shit our mother left us with?" Ryuuko asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Not really, I don't want to touch anything that woman made. I'm pretty much scrapping REVOCS," Satsuki replied calmly, already back to her task. "I'm only using some old connections of mine and pulling some strings to give us a better start."

Ryuuko nodded her head. "And what's the catch?"

At that question, Satsuki sighed heavily. "In short, we have ideas but we still have no way of getting the right amount of products to sell. Which is exactly what Rei and I have been working on in the past months."

"Oh," Ryuuko put her hands behind her head and looked at the ceiling. "Whatever, I know shit about business anyway," she hummed, making Satsuki chuckle. "Still, it's kinda surprising you're gonna sell clothes, of all things," she pointed out.

"I guess, I've been working with them all my life in one way or another," Satsuki answered bitterly before composing herself again. "What about you? Have you decided on your course yet?"

"I- I sure would, if not- if not for-" Ryuuko stuttered, her face gaining a colour of a ripe cherry.

"Oh?" Satsuki raised her brow, casting a glance at her suddenly flustered sister. "Yesterday you certainly didn't complain about my... _interruption_ ," she teased, just for the sake of seeing Ryuuko hiding her beet-red face in her hands. "Anyway, you should decide on something quickly," she continued in a more serious way. "You don't have much time left."

"Urgh..." Ryuuko grumbled, crossing her arms on her chest. "I have no idea what to choose, everything looks so stiff," she complained.

"Have you checked the brochure I've left you?"

"Yea, couldn't find anything interesting there."

Satsuki frowned. "Bring it here," she asked, bookmarking her documents before closing the folder.

"Eh? Weren't you busy anyway?" Ryuuko glared at the older girl in surprise.

"My little sister's future is more important right now," Satsuki replied, giving her a 'trust your older sibling'-kind of smile.

The younger girl rolled her eyes playfully. "Uh, 'kay," she said and got up, quickly pacing to her room and coming back with a colourful brochure in her hands.

They sat next to each other as Satsuki unfolded the paper, scanning through the text. "How about this one?" she underlined one of the options with her fingertip.

"That...ain't looking so bad...I guess," Ryuuko mumbled.

Satsuki smiled. "Think about it," she gave Ryuuko a pat on the head before going back to her previous task. "It's your future after all."

"Yea," Ryuuko pondered for a while before relaxing on the couch again. "Hey, sis, what course did you choose?" she asked, suddenly realizing in embarrassment that she actually had never bothered to find out.

"Business Management," Satsuki replied, already focused on the business plan again. "It'll be helpful with leading the company."

"Oh," the younger girl answered before staring at the ceiling thoughtfully. She grinned to herself then at the idea that began forming in her head.

She had already made her choice.

 _ **End of Chapter 1**_

* * *

 **A/N:** The next chapter will finally bring some trouble into our girls' paradise~

Regarding the updates, I'll do my best to release a new chapter every Sunday as the story is already planned out and I went quite ahead with writing, having the second chapter almost done and a lot of other parts written already. Mostly the easier ones, which actually leaves me with the difficult ones that still need to be written...OTL Gj me.

In case you don't know, 'okonomiyaki' is a Japanese dish that consists of dough and whatever you want to eat with it fried together on a pan (a "pancake" of a sort), although the composition may vary, depending on the region.

Ah, I almost forgot - since it seems that different universities in Japan have different enrollment dates, I decided to go with the one that coincides with the regular school year. That means Ryuuko has finished her high school in March and is going to enter university in April, meanwhile Satsuki has finished the first year of her university also in March and, similarly, is going to begin her second one in April.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying this fic so far. Stay with me as I have much more on the plate to offer.

See you next Sunday!


	2. The new life

**A/N:** Thank you for all of your comments, favourites, and follows, they all mean a lot to me. I know the fandom is not very active any more but let's keep it alive for a bit longer, shall we?

Since I got asked about the story title recently, let me say here that it's not as random as it may appear. By the end of this fic, figuring it out should be fairly easy.

This chapter concentrates more on the family aspect of Ryuuko and Satsuki's relation so get your toothbrushes ready ;)

Also, happy Easter or, if you're like me and don't celebrate it, simply have a nice Sunday.

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 2: The new life**_

Ryuuko was nervous, to say the least. Coming to Honnouji academy to find her father's murderer was one thing. Going to university to study, make friends, and actually live a normal life that any girl her age should was something completely different.

She had experienced that already while going to her new high school but it wasn't the same back then. There was Mako with her and that alone guaranteed her that she'd have a lot of fun. This time, however, she was here all by herself.

To her relief, Satsuki was on the same faculty. Still, it didn't even guarantee that they'd see each other often anyway. And it wasn't like they could act too close either. All in all, nothing was certain.

With an audible gulp, Ryuuko looked again at her paper schedule, then at the area she was in.

"Lecture hall 001..." she looked around among the crowd of people, finding nothing close to what she was searching for. "Dammit, who the hell came up with this numbering," she cursed, randomly directing her steps towards the nearby staircase.

"Trouble finding the lecture hall?"

Ryuuko almost jumped when a cheerful voice sounded right behind her. She looked back immediately, just to see a tall blonde girl glancing at the schedule she held. "Er, and you are...?" Ryuuko asked, cautiously taking a step back.

"My name is Aria," the girl introduced herself, offering her hand to shake. "I'm from Europe but I came here to study."

Only then did Ryuuko actually notice that the way the girl spoke sounded, in fact, a bit foreign. "Oh," she replied before composing herself and shaking the outstretched hand. "I'm Ryuuko."

"Ryuuko-san, then?" Aria smiled.

"Fine with me," the shorter girl shrugged. "Oh shit," she cursed suddenly, remembering she was still in the middle of her searches for her first lecture ever. "Sorry, I gotta go, I kinda got lost here," she explained hastily, ready to run down the stairs.

"Ah, Ryuuko-san, wait a moment!"

Ryuuko halted, looking back at the girl with a questioning expression.

"It seems we're attending the same course," she said, waving a schedule identical to the one Ryuuko held in her hand. "Follow me, I know the way."

Still somewhat confused by the sudden meeting, yet undeniably glad for having someone who knew the surroundings, Ryuuko followed the girl until they finally reached the place that she'd been searching for almost twenty minutes.

"How did you figure out it's here?" Ryuuko asked curiously after they got inside and took their seats in the middle, still having a few minutes left.

"Oh, I came here yesterday to get some idea of where the classrooms are."

Ryuuko scratched her head in embarrassment. "Guess I should have done it myself," she muttered.

Suddenly, the door to the hall creaked and all whispers that were still going around ceased immediately. An older man slowly stepped at the podium and, after adjusting the microphone, began speaking.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the first year of Business Management course. I'd like to welcome you to the very first lecture in this academic year, which also should be the first year in general for all of you, I assume," he paused when a couple of chuckles sounded from the back of the lecture hall. "The subject is called "Foundations of Marketing". Without further ado, let us begin."

…

"-san, Ryuuko-san."

Ryuuko jerked suddenly in her sit when she felt someone persistently poking her arm. "Huh? What is it?" she asked with confusion, looking up and noticing the commotion in the hall around her.

"The lecture is over," Aria informed with a smile while packing her notes.

"Oh," Ryuuko took a glance at the empty notebook in front of her. "Oh shit, I fell asleep," she put her palm to her forehead before rubbing her eyes and standing up from her sit.

"Got little sleep last night?"

Ryuuko blushed lightly, suddenly remembering the way Satsuki had _helped_ her with relaxing before the big day. "Uh, sorta," she replied, turning around to not show her reddening face.

Aria only kept beaming innocently. "Don't worry, I was also so excited I couldn't keep my eyes closed," she reassured, following Ryuuko to the exit.

"You sure still are," the other girl answered and suppressed a yawn.

"I can't help it, it's my dream coming true!"

Ryuuko sighed indifferently. _Dream...huh?_ she pondered on the word for a moment. "Must be good to have one," she said, more to herself than to anyone else in particular.

"Huh? Did you say something, Ryuuko-san?" Aria looked at her in confusion.

"Nah, nothing. It was nothing."

* * *

"I'm...back..." Ryuuko closed the door to the apartment after entering inside and, only by sheer willpower, dragged herself to the living room before falling face-first on the sofa.

"Welcome back," Satsuki's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Are you hungry?"

"Like hell..." the younger girl answered half-heartedly. Satsuki had made her lunch but it'd been hours since she ate it.

"How was your first day at university?"

Ryuuko groaned audibly. "Tiring as fuck," she complained, still wondering just how exactly trying to focus on listening for eight hours, hell, even for five minutes, came out to be more draining than fighting dozens of people in a row like she used to back in Honnouji.

She suddenly felt a pat on her back.

"You'll get used to it," Satsuki reassured confidently before sitting down next to the girl.

Not without effort, Ryuuko moved one of her arms, reaching out for Satsuki's hand and grasping it as firmly as her missing strength had allowed her to.

"I actually like it when you're tired," the older girl confessed suddenly before flashing a teasing grin. "You get more affectionate."

"Shut up..." Ryuuko mumbled indifferently.

Satsuki smiled and began stroking her sister's palm with her thumb. "There's still a while left before the food is ready," she informed. "Feel like telling me about your day?"

At that, Ryuuko turned around and rested on her back. "'t was kinda weird," she began, meeting Satsuki's gaze. "I met this blonde girl, she said she's from Europe or somethin', we're in the same course."

"Good to hear that you're making friends already," the older girl said, reaching out to brush some stray hair away from Ryuuko's eyes.

"Uh, she ain't really..." Ryuuko began before remembering that she was actually kind of glad to have the girl around. Still better than roaming alone around the faculty for the whole day.

"What about the classes?"

At that question, Ryuuko averted her eyes. "Er...pretty sure I fell asleep on all of them at some point," she confessed with embarrassment, expecting imminent chiding.

To her surprise, Satsuki began chuckling instead. "That's sounds so like you," she teased.

"Can't help it, this shit was boring as hell," the younger girl frowned and crossed her arms on her chest.

Their talk got interrupted by a loud ringing coming from the kitchen.

"Looks like the food is ready," Satsuki got up from the sofa. "Go wash your hands and come eat."

Ryuuko frowned again and opened her mouth but her sister was already in the kitchen. "Still treating me like a child," she said to herself instead, feeling the corners of her mouth curling up ever so slightly nevertheless.

About half an hour later, Ryuuko was about to lie down on the sofa again, her stomach full and content, when her phone suddenly began ringing. She looked at the display, only to see an unknown number. She hesitated for a moment before she picked up. "Hel-"

" _Ryuuuuko-chaaaaaan!"_

Quickly moving the phone away from her ear, Ryuuko looked at the device with undisguised surprise, immediately recognizing the familiar voice that sounded from the speaker.

"Mako?" she asked, a wide smile painting on her face.

" _One and only! Satsuki-sama has sent me a cellphone along with your number,"_ the girl chirped.

Ryuuko glanced at Satsuki who sat not so far away from her, reading a book with a satisfied expression. Noticing her younger sister's gaze, she waved her hand.

"Oh, that's great! By the way, Satsuki says hi," Ryuuko replied, quickly finding the need to move the phone away from her ear again.

" _Hiiiii Satsuki-sama!"_

Chuckling at Mako's usual antics, Ryuuko relaxed on the sofa. "How are you? How are the folks doing?"

" _We're all great, I think mom is scolding dad and Matarou right now for stealing the phone from our neighbours so they could call me. And I just came back from uni so I thought I'd give you a call myself. How have you been, Ryuuko-chan?"_

With that, Ryuuko laughed again. Oh how she missed the craziness of her foster family. "Great timing, Mako," she said. "I just came back from my classes a while ago myself."

" _Whoa, tell me how it was! I slept on all of mine!"_

Ryuuko couldn't help but burst out with laughter once more.

Indeed, some things never changed.

"Gosh, this girl can really talk your ears off," Ryuuko chuckled after finishing her lengthy call with Mako during which they had managed to catch up and exchange their experiences connected to their new lives as university students. "Thanks, Sats," she added, meeting her sister's gaze.

Satsuki's only reply was a gentle smile before she went back to reading.

* * *

With a grumble, Ryuuko bookmarked and closed a thick book that lied in front of her before resting her forehead with a thud right on top of it. "Knowledge, come in..." she mumbled to herself.

"Something wrong?"

She turned around and saw Satsuki peeking inside through the open door. "Uh, no, I just got a whole freaking chapter of this shit to learn due to next Thursday," Ryuuko complained.

It was Monday.

"I mean, what the hell, it ain't even a week since the semester began."

Satsuki let out an amused chuckle. While she herself was good at studying and could memorize the material easily, Ryuuko seemed to be her complete opposite in this field.

She strolled towards the irritated girl and began gently massaging her shoulders.

"You're all tensed up," Satsuki noted after a moment, continuing her motion which made Ryuuko gasp contently a few times. "Take a hot bath, it'll help you relax a bit."

Ryuuko hummed in acknowledgement before getting up from her chair. "Thanks, sis," she gave the older girl a thankful smile, already feeling somewhat less stressed after the impromptu massage she had just received.

She opened the door to the bathroom and stepped inside. The lights turned on automatically. She was about to take her clothes off when she noticed something, or rather _someone_ , entering along with her.

"Um, you wanna go first?" she asked, turning to Satsuki who began preparing the bath.

"No, I'm fine," the girl replied.

"Oh, 'kay," Ryuuko looked at her with slight confusion before her face covered with a hot flush. "Wait, what are you-" she uttered, watching as Satsuki began casually taking her clothes off.

Satsuki paused, already half-naked, and gave her a questioning look. "I wanted to take a bath with my little sister," she spoke matter-of-factly.

The little sister in question kept staring at her with her mouth open.

"Are you...not okay with that?" Satsuki asked with a hint of hesitation after a moment of silence.

Trying to contain her flustered behaviour, Ryuuko turned around to face another direction, suddenly noticing, to her mortification, a huge mirror giving her a perfect view on her sibling's almost naked body anyway. "N-no, it's okay," she stuttered, with face red as a beet, and tentatively started removing her own clothing.

It was one thing, Ryuuko figured quickly, when she got naked along with Satsuki during their love-making. But it was something completely different when it came to uncovering her body during something as simple and casual as taking a bath together. Ironically, the latter was actually normal for sisters to do.

"Sit down, I'll wash your hair," Satsuki motioned her gently to a stool near a shower.

"I can-" Ryuuko began, wanting to say that she could easily do it by herself, but the innocently _cute_ look on Satsuki's face made her quickly change her mind.

Covering her chest self-consciously, she paced towards the shower and sat down. Satsuki, on the other hand, showed absolutely no sign of embarrassment.

The older girl had rinsed her sibling's hair before she began putting shampoo on her head and gently rubbing her scalp.

Indulging herself in the heavenly feeling, Ryuuko closed her eyes, sighing contently as her sister's fingers kept moving slowly around her head. She felt herself slowly drifting off when the motions suddenly stopped.

"Keep your eyes closed," she heard and suddenly felt warm water flowing down her head and body.

Satsuki repeated the process one more time and knelt down behind her sister.

"W-wait, what-" Ryuuko stuttered, turning around and immediately covering her bare front again.

"I'm going to wash your back," Satsuki replied, putting some shower gel on her hands and spreading it carefully on the soft skin on front of her.

Ryuuko couldn't help but gasp again as Satsuki moved the hands from her shoulders, down to her shoulder blades, and then to the small of her back, lingering there for a moment and rubbing it carefully. She brushed against the younger girl's hips and sides, moving up to her shoulders again, then stood up to rinse the remaining soap.

Sitting down under the second shower, Satsuki smiled with satisfaction. "I'll leave the rest to you," she said and reached for the bottle of hair shampoo. "Unless you need my help," she added teasingly.

"Perv," Ryuuko retorted, but still felt her lips curl into a smile. "Hey, lemme do that," she got up suddenly, taking the shampoo bottle away from Satsuki and standing behind her.

The older girl didn't protest and, instead, allowed Ryuuko to do the job.

Clumsily mimicking Satsuki's earlier motions, Ryuuko began washing her sister's hair slowly, noticing a content and satisfied expression lingering on her face. _Her hair is so soft..._ the girl noted to herself as she kept going. Entranced with the sensation, she kept rubbing until she noticed that Satsuki _did_ actually fall asleep.

"Sats?" she shook her sister gently.

"Ah, sorry," the older girl quickly opened her eyes and composed herself. "I drifted off."

"I noticed," Ryuuko chuckled and rinsed her sibling's hair. "Want me to wash your back, too?" she asked after she finished.

"Go ahead."

With a nod, Ryuuko picked up the bottle of Satsuki's shower cream and knelt down, levelling her eyes with her sister's neck. She was about to begin when something else had caught her attention.

"Do they hurt?" she asked warily, carefully brushing her fingertips against multiple, little scarred marks that lingered all around Satsuki's neck and shoulders.

"No," the girl replied contently.

Ryuuko narrowed her eyes. Satsuki had never asked her to go gently at her and what she was looking at was nothing else than the result of their frequent love-making sessions. With a sense of guilt building up inside her, Ryuuko tenderly pressed her lips against one of the marks that was still relatively fresh.

"Don't worry about it," Satsuki turned to her sister, meeting her bitter gaze. "Please," she added, reaching out to pat the girl's head.

That didn't really make Ryuuko worry any less. Still, she nodded quietly and resumed her task of washing her sibling's back thoroughly, although still making her motions extra careful whenever she got close to the numerous little scars and scratch marks.

They finished washing the rest of their bodies by themselves before stepping into the bath. Although still self-conscious about being naked around Satsuki so casually, Ryuuko noticed that she wasn't feeling as embarrassed as she did at first. They sat down next to each other, with the water covering them up to their chins, and rested themselves against the edge of the bath.

"This is heaven..." Ryuuko muttered, closing her eyes and breathing in the aroma of the oil that Satsuki had put into the water. She felt her sister nestling closer to her and intertwining their fingers underwater.

"Are you okay now, Ryuuko?" Satsuki asked softly, receiving a questioning look in response. "You didn't seem to be fond of the idea of us taking a bath together," she explained.

"Oh, that," Ryuuko looked at her sister. "I'm fine now, guess I just had to get used to it, or something," she grinned, scratching her head.

Satsuki smiled and closed her eyes. "I just want us to do things that family does, too," she spoke. "Ultimately, that's what we are."

Ryuuko looked at the ceiling, pondering on what her sister said. They were a very special kind of family. But what did it matter? "Yea," she replied eventually, closing her eyes again and sighing contently. Maybe that was just how fate wanted them to be. Either way, she didn't mind.

* * *

" _I'm sorry, Ryuuko, could you order yourself a dinner tonight?"_

Ryuuko raised her brow before taking her sudden phone call someplace more quiet than the rowdy faculty hall. "Something came up?" she asked, finding an empty, and relatively peaceful, corner.

" _Rei called me a while ago, I have a business meeting appointed after my lectures,"_ Satsuki explained.

"Oh, sure," Ryuuko replied and asked, "When are you going to be back?"

She heard a sigh before a response came. _"Hopefully around 9 pm at most, but you don't have to wait for me."_

"Yea, yea," the younger girl dismissed. "Uh, I gotta go," she said suddenly, noticing that people started disappearing from the hall. "I think my class is gonna start."

" _Good luck,"_ Satsuki spoke mildly.

"Thanks, you too."

After ending the call, Ryuuko quickly paced towards the door of her classroom and slipped in before the last person entered. Sitting down next to Aria, as usual, she began unpacking her notebooks.

"What happened? You disappeared so suddenly I thought you went home," the blonde asked, making use of the still unsettled commotion around them.

"Nothing much," Ryuuko answered, propping her chin on her hand. "I just gotta get myself something to eat tonight," she said, staring thoughtfully at the back of the person in front of her. "I think I'll get a pizza."

Not sure how it was related to her question, Aria scratched her head before the lecturer asked for silence and the class began.

* * *

"She's late..." Ryuuko muttered to herself, glancing at the clock in the kitchen. The hour hand was about to reach ten pm.

With an long sigh, the girl looked around the empty place before resting her hands and head on the table she was sitting at. Her heartbeat quickened when she heard the familiar clacking of a pair of heels before the door to the apartment opened.

"I'm sorry, Ryuuko," Satsuki began right off the bat after entering the kitchen. "I hope you didn't have trouble with getting the food," she said with an audible tiredness in her voice before she dropped down on one of the chairs.

"It's fine, I already ordered some pizza," Ryuuko replied before preparing two plates and filling them with still somewhat warm food. "Eat up and go rest, you look beaten," she said, putting one of the plates in front of her sister, before sitting down and digging in her own portion.

Satsuki looked at her with unconcealed surprise. "You waited for me?"

Ryuuko smiled, somewhat distantly. "I...guess I have a thing for family dinners," she answered, reaching out to get another slice of pizza. "How did the meeting go?"

The older girl's expression turned from tired to serious. "They kept trying to convince me to continue Kiryuuin Ragyo's business," she said coldly, munching on her food. "They kept talking about her over and over, praising her to the skies, and saying my methods are too soft compared to hers."

Frowning, Ryuuko let out a low grumble. "What a bunch of idiots."

Satsuki didn't answer. "It was a good thing that Rei was there with me," she said instead, her voice softening slightly.

Ryuuko sighed. She didn't need to be there to imagine how much it must have pissed Satsuki off. It happened every time somebody mentioned their mother and, mentally, she couldn't thank Rei enough for redeeming herself and looking out for her sister at times like this.

"You're not eating any more?" Ryuuko frowned, watching as the other girl began putting her plate into the dishwasher after eating only one slice of pizza.

"I guess I'm just not hungry," Satsuki replied. Her voice was calm and collected again.

Despite that, the younger girl could easily sense that there was still something more behind it.

"Do you mind if I just go sleep for tonight?"

"No, it's fine," Ryuuko answered before getting up to clean from the table. "You look like you need some rest."

Satsuki gave her an apologetic, and thankful, smile before directing her steps towards the bathroom.

After following her sister with her gaze for a moment, Ryuuko went to her room to change into her pyjama before going to bedroom herself. It wasn't like she was going to do anything else at this hour, especially when Satsuki was going to sleep. So, after her sister had left the bathroom and went straight to bed, Ryuuko quickly brushed her teeth, planning to go sleep as well.

It surprised her greatly, maybe because of the fact that she herself was the one to drift off the first, that, by the time she entered their bedroom, Satsuki was already dead to the world and with apparently no intention of waking up any time soon. Still, Ryuuko had slipped into the bed carefully, curling herself next to the sleeping girl, and closed her lids.

She was already half-asleep herself, watching some vague dream playing in her mind, when abrupt commotion woke her up immediately.

Ryuuko opened her eyes and looked at her sister, first thing, who was suddenly twisting and turning while still deep in her sleep, with a distressed expression marking her face.

"Sats," Ryuuko grabbed the girl by her arm, shaking her gently. When that went with no effect, she repeated her motion, more sternly. "Satsuki," she spoke louder.

"Get...get away..."

She froze in shock when she heard her sister's pained whisper. Realizing that the girl was still asleep, Ryuuko sat up and shook her with both of her hands. "Sis!" she shouted.

Finally, Satsuki opened her eyes. She looked around with confusion, her gaze eventually resting on Ryuuko's face, before she let out a sigh of relief.

Sighing on her own, Ryuuko laid back down, embracing her sister tightly. "It's okay, Sats, it was just a dream," she whispered, feeling the girl cuddling to her and clenching her shirt almost desperately.

A moment after, just as suddenly as her nightmare came, Satsuki was already sleeping soundly in Ryuuko's arms.

"The hell was that..." Ryuuko whispered to herself before closing her eyes and attempting to get some rest. But even the slightest move that Satsuki made, every single tremble of her body, would put Ryuuko's mind back on alert mode, ready to wake the girl up again if needed. In the end, sleep never came that night.

* * *

If there was a person that Ryuuko despised from the bottom of her heart then it had to be her already-deceased mother. Not only for completely messing up her and Satsuki's lives from their very beginning, but also for haunting her sister even a year after death.

Although few were the times when Satsuki had opened up to her about their mother's abuse she had suffered, it was still enough for Ryuuko to know how deep the scars must ran. And she would surely talk to Satsuki about it now, try to make the girl let it all out, if not for the ill-timed streak of long meetings she had scheduled day after day.

Then, night after night, there was the same scenario repeating itself, and Ryuuko really didn't want to drag more things out when her sister was already in a bad condition every evening.

This one was no different.

Dropping down on the sofa in the living room, Ryuuko looked at the stars shining through the glassy ceiling and sighed heavily. For how long had Satsuki been dealing with this alone? She knew her sister's resolve was unstoppable when it came to achieving what she wanted but she also knew that Satsuki wasn't indestructible. Under her tough façade she still felt pain, just like any human being would.

Closing her eyes, Ryuuko listened to the sound of water falling from the shower in the bathroom and sighed again. It was as if cleansing her body would help Satsuki with cleansing her mind from the scars left by that woman, now being repeatedly opened over and over again by ignorant people she had to do business with. Ironically, the world came out to be a really small place.

Long minutes passed before the water stopped flowing and the door to the bathroom opened.

"Sats," Ryuuko said when a tall figure clad in a bathrobe walked through the living room and towards the bedroom.

Satsuki stopped abruptly and, without turning around, replied, "Yes?"

"You know you can rely on me, right?"

It took a couple of unnaturally long seconds before the answer came. "...Thank you," the girl whispered, barely audibly enough for Ryuuko to hear.

Noticing that Satsuki stood still, Ryuuko got up quickly and embraced her sister from behind.

She held her for a moment, feeling the tensed body slowly relaxing its muscles under her touch. "Let's get you to bed, you need rest," the younger girl said sternly before putting her arm around Satsuki's waist and leading her to their master bedroom.

Satsuki quietly nodded her head, following her sibling.

The moment they both got under the quilt, Ryuuko cradled the older girl, stroking her hair as delicately as she could, feeling her nestling comfortably in her arms. She closed her own eyes and listened as her sister's breathing kept slowing down steadily until it reached a point where she was most probably asleep.

Ryuuko pondered grimly on everything that had happened so far. She had never told Satsuki about it but the only reason she chose the same university course as her was hope that one day she could help her sister carry the burden. However stupid it sounded, she wanted to walk alongside with her and protect her from things like this. So Satsuki could finally live a normal life that she deserved but, for some reason, still kept refusing to accept.

Carefully, Ryuuko tightened her embrace around her sister after she felt her stir slightly.

"A dream..." the younger girl whispered, looking at Satsuki sleeping peacefully again in her arms.

She also had a dream on her own now. Just that, in her case, it was still far out of her reach.

* * *

"What's wrong, Ryuuko-san? You look beaten," Aria pointed out, bending over the shorter girl who was sitting down on the floor and resting her back against the wall in their faculty's main hall.

"I'm tired," Ryuuko replied indifferently, munching on a green apple. "I got little sleep last night, that's all."

Aria frowned before sitting down next to her. "That time of the month?" she asked compassionately.

With that, Ryuuko choked on her food spectacularly. "Uh, no, it ain't that," she uttered after her coughing ceased. "I just-" she paused, feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket.

 _From Sis: "Don't wait for me with dinner tonight."_

 _Again._ She read the message a few more times before sighing to herself. "-got some stuff on my head," she finished, shoving her phone back into her jeans pocket.

"You have a sister?" Aria asked curiously. "Oh, sorry, I couldn't help but take a look," she added, raising one hand in apology, after noticing the other girl's surprised stare.

"Yea," Ryuuko answered briefly before going back to eating her apple.

"What is she like?"

"Loving, gentle, and stupidly stubborn."

"Oh," Aria said thoughtfully. "Must be nice to have a sibling."

Ryuuko repressed her grim chuckle. Even though they tried to act like that, she and Satsuki were far from being normal sisters. She opened her mouth to give a reply when something else suddenly caught her attention. "Wait a sec," she said before getting up and pacing to the other side of the slightly crowded hall, throwing the remaining apple core out to the bin along the way.

She knew she got spotted when a pair of blue eyes locked with hers.

"Ryuuko," Satsuki's face was marked with surprise. "Have you received my message?"

"Yea," Ryuuko answered, putting her hands inside the pockets of her sweatshirt. "Got another meeting tonight?"

The older girl nodded.

There. It was now or never.

"Can't you just ditch it?"

"I can't miss this one," Satsuki replied casually, but clearly not enjoying the thought herself. "What's wrong?" she asked, sensing her sister's anxiousness.

Ryuuko clenched her fists inside her pockets. "I just...I hate to see you like that," she muttered, then gazed sternly into the older girl's eyes. "Every time you come back you ain't yourself."

Satsuki opened her mouth to answer but changed her mind last moment.

"You tremble at night, you talk in your sleep," Ryuuko kept listing relentlessly.

The last sentence seemed to shake the girl as she looked at her sibling with a slightly shocked expression that broke her indifferent façade. "What do I say?" she asked dully.

"To get away from you, to stop doing whatever the hell you're dreaming about."

"I see...I didn't know," Satsuki said, closing her eyes and allowing herself to let out a quiet sigh.

Ryuuko grimaced. "I figured," she replied bitterly. "Look, whatever makes you act like this, you gotta stop it."

"I can't. There still are things that must be-"

"I ain't asking if you can or not," Ryuuko interjected. "I'm telling you as your fucking sister who's worried about you!" she raised her voice, making the people around them turn their heads curiously in her direction. "Sorry," she muttered, realizing her outburst.

She looked at Satsuki who seemed to be calmly calculating her options.

"It'll be the last one," the older girl spoke eventually. "I'll take a break after it."

Ryuuko stared deeply into her sister's eyes for a moment. "Promise?"

"Promise," Satsuki replied, managing a small smile. Then, she bent over and whispered into her sibling's ear, "Tomorrow, after your classes, do you feel like going on a date together?"

With that, Ryuuko finally grinned on her own. "You got it."

They gazed into each other's eyes for a while before Satsuki broke the silence between them. "I have to go now," she said, glancing at her wristwatch. "I'll be back at night, okay?"

Ryuuko felt her smile falter but she refused to let it show. "I'll be waiting," she said and, just before Satsuki was about to walk away, she added, "give 'em hell," giving her sister her trademark grin.

Going back to Aria, she felt somewhat lighter. She knew there was most probably one more tough night to go through but, after that, they would finally get some rest. And the thought of their appointed date was somehow making things appear easier to bear.

"Who was that?" the blonde asked curiously when Ryuuko got back and sat down next to her.

Feeling a smile forming on her face, Ryuuko closed her eyes and replied, "my sis."

For some reason, she felt really proud of that fact.

* * *

It was almost half past midnight when Ryuuko heard a loud, repetitive noise that kept gaining on volume. Only when she heard a thud did she realize that something had just _landed_ on top of the roof.

It wasn't long until the noise was gone and she heard a sound of a door being opened that she had never heard before.

Ryuuko smiled to herself before getting up from her seat in the living room and going to greet her sister. Feeling a bit of tension, she entered the main hall of the apartment.

There she was, hanging her coat, with her hair dishevelled slightly from the wind.

"That was one hell of a way to come back home, sis," Ryuuko grinned, resting herself against the wall.

Satsuki chuckled at the familiar-sounding comment. "Old habits die hard," she retorted, turning around to face her sister.

"Are you okay?" the younger girl asked. She looked up to meet her sibling's eyes, noticing a gentle flicker of light in them. With that, she quietly released the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Instead of answering, Satsuki took a step forward and pulled surprised Ryuuko into a tight embrace. "I'm fine," she said eventually. "Thanks to you."

"Huh?" Ignoring her surfacing blush, Ryuuko looked at her sister with astonishment. "How is it thanks to me?" she asked, returning the embrace anyway.

"It just is," Satsuki replied mysteriously. "You gave me the strength that I needed, and I had our date tomorrow to look forward to," she spoke calmly, resting face in Ryuuko's hair affectionately.

"Actually, it's today already," Ryuuko corrected playfully, pointing at the clock. "We should go sleep, I'm gonna tire you out in the evening," she said with a grin.

"Just give me a moment, I want to take a shower."

"Sure, I'm gonna hit the bed first," the younger girl stepped away from her sister and followed her with her eyes until she disappeared inside the bathroom.

After entering the bedroom, already changed, Ryuuko fell on the soft mattress and let out a sigh of relief. She had no idea how exactly she had managed to help Satsuki but it wasn't important. She was just glad that her sister seemed to be okay. She realized a long while ago that, really, it became the only thing that mattered to her.

Ryuuko smiled when the mattress weighed down and Satsuki's warm body pressed itself against her back.

"Good night, Ryuuko," Satsuki whispered.

Inhaling the sweet scent of her sister's shower cream, Ryuuko closed her eyes. "Night, sis," she replied. She didn't even know when sleep came.

* * *

"Shit, I'm gonna be late!" Ryuuko looked at her cellphone as she ran through the multiple halls and staircases of her faculty, trying her best to avoid bumping into other people that were walking around.

Finally, she had reached the exit. The outside light, although already slowly fading away, still blinded her for a couple of seconds. She looked around after a moment, noticing Satsuki sitting on one of the nearby benches.

Seeing her, the older girl stood up.

"Sorry," Ryuuko stuttered out, stopping in front of her sister and panting after her dash. "The lecture got prolonged a bit 'cause of some announcements."

That, and Aria had a hard time waking her up, but it wasn't like she could say that, was it?

Satsuki nodded slightly. "It's okay," she said, directing her steps towards the exit from the university grounds. "Where would you like to go first?" she asked, turning to Ryuuko who was walking by her side.

"Dunno, could we get something to eat? I'm kinda hungry."

"Sure. Traditional? Pizza?"

Ryuuko pondered for a moment, putting her hands behind her head out of habit. "Ramen sounds good right now."

The older girl smiled. "Let's go then, an acquaintance of mine showed me a good restaurant around here."

The dinner passed in relative silence as they both were somewhat tired after the day full of classes and lectures. They became more lively after they had left, feeling their strength coming back again.

"Hey, Sats, how about we just walk around for a bit?" Ryuuko asked after a moment of strolling in a more or less random direction.

Satsuki gave her a bit surprised look at first before nodding her head. "Sure," she said and linked her arm with Ryuuko's.

"It's just," the younger girl began, looking at the reddening sky. "We're either at uni or at home, I thought we ain't really...uh, y'know, get to spend the time together in a casual way like that."

They took another random turn, soon enough finding themselves in an open area with a clear view to the west.

Ryuuko hummed in awe as they stopped near a barrier, dividing them from a steep cliff, and watched the setting sun dyeing them and everything around in red. She felt the older girl moving closer and tightening the hold on her arm.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Satsuki whispered.

"Yea," Ryuuko replied contently, wondering how something so simple could fill her with so much joy. Just the fact alone that she could share this view with her sister.

They kept staring at the sky burning red for a while longer, until the sun disappeared under the horizon, before turning around and continuing their walk.

"How is university going for you?" Satsuki picked up. "Are you getting used to it?"

Ryuuko chuckled. "Yea, I don't fall asleep on lectures as much any more," she answered, deciding against mentioning the fact that she could keep her focus only during the first one or two classes.

"If you need some help with the material, let me know."

"There you go with your older-sister act again," Ryuuko grinned, noticing with a corner of her eye that Satsuki's cheeks covered with ever so delicate blush.

"I can't help it," the older girl replied with a slight hint of embarrassment. "I _am_ your older sister after all."

Ryuuko snickered. "A very _unusual_ one," she teased, admiring the rare sight of flustered Satsuki in the dim light of a street lamp.

They entered an empty park and kept strolling through the main road for a moment until the noises of the city were almost gone.

With surprised expression on her face, Ryuuko looked at her sister who halted suddenly before turning to the younger girl. She felt her heart beating faster when Satsuki's hands rested on her hips.

"I might be unusual," the taller girl whispered. "But I'm still your sister," she finished, leaning in and connecting her lips with Ryuuko's.

Ryuuko closed her eyes and was about to embrace her sister when she suddenly felt herself being brutally pulled away. She groaned when her arms got painfully twisted backwards and, before she knew, she was in almost no position to move.

"Hoho, what do we have here," a malicious voice sounded from the darkness of the park.

"The taller one is a real cutie," another voice.

"The shorty ain't that bad either," third one.

"Satsuki!" Ryuuko shouted, gritting her teeth when she saw a man taking hold of her sister, with another one stepping in front of her. She looked around, seeing one more lurking in the shadows, while one was immobilizing her own body.

"Fucking dykes."

"Holy shit, look at her boobs," one of the guys spoke, directing his steps towards Satsuki.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" Ryuuko growled before she felt a hard slap landing on her face.

"Or what, gonna start screaming? Go ahead, ain't nobody gonna hear ya here," the man that hit her mocked before all of them burst out with laughter.

Ryuuko spit out the blood from her slit lip, glaring at them with undisguised hatred, before trying to wrench herself away from the grasp, only to feel it tightening to the point her arms felt close to breaking.

She bit back the pain and tried to evaluate all the options she had when suddenly she saw one of the men grabbing Satsuki by her jaw.

Rage took over.

With full force, Ryuuko jerked her head backwards, hearing a satisfying sound of a crushed nose followed by a pained groan. Using the consternation, she broke herself free, pushing the thug that held her away, before dashing towards Satsuki.

She was raising her hand, ready to throw a punch at the man who dared to touch her sister, when she halted suddenly, sheer fear appearing in her eyes.

"Make one more step and I'm gonna kill that bitch of yours!" the guy who held Satsuki by her arms shouted, holding a knife dangerously close to the older girl's neck.

Seething with pain when the sharp blade had touched her skin, Satsuki gritted her teeth. "Ryuuko, run!" she commanded.

Clenching her fists in rage, Ryuuko looked at her sister before a pair of hands grabbed her own arms and twisted them back again. She winced when she got brutally brought down to her knees with sounds of laughter echoing throughout the park.

"Good choice, kiddo," one of the men mocked before turning to Satsuki. "Now, let's have some fun."

 _ **End of Chapter 2**_


	3. Your touch

**A/N:** Caelion is actually sticking to her own update schedule? What kind of sorcery is that?

Once again, thank you SO much for all your support, it feels really rewarding to know that people like this story and want to see more. I felt bad for leaving you with a kind of nasty ending last week so, without further prolonging, on to what happens next.

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 3: Your touch**_

"Ryuuko, run!" Satsuki shouted, feeling a small trickle of blood dripping down her neck from the spot where the blade made contact with her skin.

Clenching her teeth and fists painfully, Ryuuko still remained in place.

"Smart move, kiddo," one of the men commented, after another one had grabbed her by her arms before kicking her in the back of her knees to bring her down to the ground. Turning again to Satsuki, he eyed her hungrily. "Now, let's have some fun."

"Wait," an angry groan came from the darkness, making the guy's hand halt midway to the older girl's face marked with hostility. "That bitch broke my nose," the man who held Ryuuko earlier stepped closer to Satsuki, snatching the knife the other thug was holding. "You're gonna fuckin' pay for it," he turned to Ryuuko before grabbing her by her hair.

Ryuuko only grinned briefly and gritted her teeth. Her eyes still widened for a moment when she felt a dull hit, followed by a wave of pain, coming from her abdomen. She coughed, feeling blood coming to her throat, and looked at the handle of the knife that was sticking out of her stomach.

"Ryuuko!" Satsuki screamed on top of her lungs, watching in disbelief as the younger girl fell inertly on the ground.

"What, scared about your girl?" one of the men mocked, turning to Satsuki, as the rest, save for the one holding her, began circling around her like a clan of hungry hyenas. "You have yourself to worry about now," he said with satisfaction before grabbing her breast.

The girl's eyes flashed with hatred. Not even a second after did the man groan in pain when the tip of Satsuki's boot hit his groin with full force.

"You...bitch..." he seethed, falling to his knees.

Gritting her teeth, Satsuki felt a wave of dull ache when the man holding her twisted her arms further and, similarly to her sister earlier, kicked her down to the ground.

"You're a fierce one, ain't you? Be a good girl and maybe we won't hurt you...that much," came near her ear, along with a breath that reeked of alcohol.

The girl winced when she felt her hair being pulled brutally and a rough hand reached out to grab her by her throat.

"What the fuck?! Where the hell is the other one?" one of the men shouted suddenly in panic. The remaining three, along with Satsuki, looked at the place where Ryuuko fell earlier, now empty, except for the bloodied knife lying in the middle of a small, red paddle. "I left her here, I thought she was dead!"

"We gotta find her, she's gonna call the cops."

The man that held Satsuki forced her back up. "Fuck her, she won't go too far. Let's take this one and get goin'."

He pushed Satsuki forward and was about to take a step when a sudden punch aimed at his temple knocked him down in an instant.

"Don't you fucking touch my sister ever again, trash," Ryuuko seethed, walking out of the darkness of the trees next to them before grabbing the unconscious man by his collar and throwing him aside. Putting her hand on her older sibling's arm, the girl stepped protectively in front of her.

The guy that Satsuki had kicked, one who was the closest to them, looked at her with fear in his eyes. "What the-" he began but got quickly cut off when Ryuuko's knee forced the air out of him.

Taking another swing, she violently kicked the man once more with all her might.

The two remaining thugs looked in disbelief at their companion getting sent into the air by a girl much smaller than himself. Not wasting any more time, they immediately began fleeing in panic.

Ryuuko growled and clenched her fists, torn between chasing after them and making sure that Satsuki was okay. In the end, the latter turned out to be more important. "Are you hurt?" she asked with low voice, turning to her sister. "Sorry for making you buy me some time again."

"I'm fine. Your-" Satsuki began, carefully closing her hand to the bloody stain on Ryuuko's shirt.

"I'm okay already," the younger girl replied. "Look," she raised the cloth up, showing her toned and perfectly fine, although stained with red, stomach. Forcing a small smile, she added, "Y'know, I'm still partially made of life fi-" she didn't manage to finish when Satsuki pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace.

"Don't you ever hurt yourself for my sake again," the older girl chided, not releasing her hold.

Meekly, Ryuuko returned the gesture. "They'd kill you if I made any move, it ain't like there was any other way," she replied grimly, hearing her sister sigh heavily. Pulling back after a moment, Ryuuko looked at the long, although not very deep cut on Satsuki's neck. Then, she glanced at the two, still unconscious men scattered on the ground. "Anyway, we gotta get outta here before they come to," she said sternly while Satsuki nodded, picking up her purse and wiping the blood off her neck with the back of her hand.

They walked hastily through the main, still empty alley of the park, carefully watching around as they kept going.

"Ouch, shit," Ryuuko cursed, tripping suddenly over the stone and her own tangling legs. She braced herself for the incoming impact when suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her tightly, bringing her fall to a halt. "Thanks," the younger girl muttered, clumsily catching her balance again and resting herself against her sister.

"Are you okay?" Satsuki asked warily, putting her arm around Ryuuko's shoulders for better support.

"Uh, yea, I'm just feeling a little dizzy," Ryuuko replied, trying to keep her brave face while noticing the miraculous effects of adrenaline slowly wearing out. "I kinda lost a bit of blood there," she chuckled grimly. "Don't worry, I'm gonna be like new soon," she reassured, seeing a cautious look on her sister's face.

They stood in place for a moment before Ryuuko indicated that she was ready to go. Slowly, at first, they began walking again.

"Uh, I think we gotta call a taxi," the shorter girl mentioned after they had left the park. "I can't really walk like that around the city," she pointed at the front of her shirt, drenched in blood, which kept gathering annoyingly high amount of stares from other people.

Satsuki nodded and looked around. "Let's go," she commanded, leading the girl towards the nearest parked taxi.

The driver, a middle-aged man, looked at them, as they got in, with interest before glancing at Ryuuko's clothes. "To the hospital?" he asked, turning the engine on.

"Yes."

"No."

The two sisters glared at each other, both with a frown on their own.

"You have to get a proper treatment," Satsuki contended.

"I'm fine," Ryuuko insisted, looking her sibling straight in the eye. "There ain't nothing there, what are you gonna tell them? They ain't even gonna admit me."

Satsuki stared at Ryuuko for a moment before eventually sighing with defeat. "Okay." Then, she turned to the driver who just kept watching the two of them in confusion. "To the Golden Rose," she commanded, then added, "please."

"As you wish, miss."

Ryuuko grinned to herself in her sit.

It was amusing how much Satsuki had changed. A bit more than a year ago they would beat each other up senseless and neither cared if the other got hurt. Now, Satsuki watched out for her, despite the self-regeneration Ryuuko was blessed (and cursed) with. Hell, she was even saying 'please' when asking for a ride.

Hastily leaving the driver more money than they probably should have, the two girls left the taxi and quickly directed their steps towards the skyscraper, ignoring more of curious stares coming from other pedestrians.

"Fuck..." Ryuuko groaned when they had finally reached the elevator. She rested her back against its wall and took a few deep breaths. "I got seriously outta shape..." she mumbled. The quickly-paced walk from the taxi, however short, took a bigger toll on her body than it normally would.

"Go and lie down as soon as we arrive," Satsuki instructed as she stood next to her sister, taking her slightly pale hand. "I'll take care of the rest."

"No, I gotta treat your wound first," Ryuuko opposed, looking at the older girl.

"I can do it myself, you have to rest."

"Please," without lifting her gaze, the younger girl carefully touched the skin below the cut.

Satsuki didn't answer. Instead, she nodded her head, quietly accepting her sister's request.

Ryuuko sighed and rested her back against the wall again. "Sorry, Sats, if only I noticed them sooner-" she began but got firmly cut off.

"It's no one's fault. If someone needs to be blamed then let it be me," Satsuki closed her eyes and let a deep breath out. "I shouldn't have kissed you in a place like that."

They spent the rest of the ride in silence, immediately directing their steps to the bathroom the moment they entered their apartment.

Standing in front of Satsuki, who sat down on a small bench in the bathroom, Ryuuko began going through their first-aid kit. Finding what she was searching for, she bent over and delicately brushed the girl's hair away. "Don' move," she muttered and sprayed the disinfectant on the wound, gently wiping it away after a moment with sterile cloth.

Satsuki grimaced ever so slightly but, as Ryuuko noticed a long time ago already, the pain showed more in her tensed body than on her face.

"I'm going to give Rei a call and ask her to take care of these guys," Satsuki spoke calmly but Ryuuko could clearly hear the malice concealed in her voice. For a brief moment, she resembled her old, relentless self that she was back in Honnouji.

The younger girl smiled at her sister's sometimes unusual protectiveness before bandaging the wound. "There," she said, straightening herself and closing the first-aid kit.

"Thank you," Satsuki replied before wrapping her arms around the girl's waist and pulling her close, resting her own cheek against her sister's stomach.

"Uh, it's still gross, y'know," Ryuuko said, pointing at her bloodied shirt.

"I don't mind."

Ryuuko couldn't help but smile again. She put one hand on Satsuki's back and began stroking her hair with the other one. "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Satsuki answered calmly with no intention to move. "I'm just fine."

For a while longer, Ryuuko kept running her fingers through Satsuki's hair.

"Let's go to sleep," the older girl said eventually. "You need to rest, we've got enough for tonight." Her sister nodded before turning around and preparing herself to go sleep.

"Ryuuko," Satsuki spoke suddenly.

"Yea?" Ryuuko turned back to face her sibling.

"Thank you for protecting me."

The younger girl opened her mouth, as if trying to say something, before closing it again and scratching her head. "Uh, sure," she mumbled, averting her eyes.

"I'm serious," Satsuki gently picked the girl's chin up and looked at her earnestly. "Even though I don't always show it, I...am not whom I used to be back then any more."

Ryuuko stared back into her sister's eyes. "I know," she replied sternly before cracking a small smile.

Satsuki returned the grin in a confident way, then slid her hand up to Ryuuko's cheek that took the slap earlier, caressing it delicately while her own expression softened, becoming milder and more loving. "Let's go," she said before leaving the bathroom.

When they got into the bed, they hugged each other comfortably, trying to finally get some well deserved rest.

The catch was, sleep kept refusing to come.

Turning to her other side, eventually, Ryuuko nestled herself in her sister's arms and closed her eyes but, even though the adrenaline from the earlier incident was long since gone, she simply didn't feel like sleeping.

"Ryuuko...?"

The girl in question moved at the quiet whisper. "Yea?"

"Can't sleep?"

"Kinda...you?"

"Same," Satsuki replied before cuddling to her sister's back. "I'm thinking of what happened earlier."

"Don' worry 'bout it, 't was just a bunch of some stupid idiots," Ryuuko muttered, putting her hand on Satsuki's arm that was wrapped around her.

"It's not that," Satsuki whispered. "I've been thinking...just what kind of relationship do we have?"

Ryuuko opened her eyes at the question. "Where did _that_ come from?" she asked, honestly surprised.

Truth be told, she had never thought about it herself. They were sisters who just happened to fall for each other and that was it. Ever since, they'd just meet up and go on dates, or sometimes straight to a hotel, whichever they felt like doing. They hadn't really asked what sort of relationship had formed between them, except for silent understanding that it was much different than a normal family bond.

"It's been on my mind for a while actually," the older girl confessed. "These guys from earlier seemed so pissed off and they didn't even know we're sisters...what about the people that do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that a lot of people would perceive what we do as immoral," Satsuki explained briefly. "Just for the fact we're related by blood."

Ryuuko shrugged. "I don't care about morality."

The older girl snorted. "I figured," she teased before getting back to her earlier seriousness. "Still, I have a few people on my mind who probably deserve to know what's between us," she spoke thoughtfully. "I'm only not sure how to...define it."

"I never really thought of what to call it," Ryuuko replied indifferently. "The only thing that matters to me is that I- I- I l-" she stuttered suddenly like a broken record, feeling her face covering with dark blush, and mentally chided herself for not thinking before speaking.

"What's wrong, Ryuuko?" Satsuki quickly caught on her sister's sudden embarrassment.

 _Darn..._ Ryuuko thought, swallowing thickly. Too late to turn back.

"I l-love y-you...sis," she murmured, resisting the urge to hide her face under her pillow.

The reply she received was her sister's arm tightening its hold around her.

"Me too," Satsuki whispered a moment after with much more confidence. "I love you, Ryuuko."

Ryuuko felt her heart skip a beat when the words had reached her ears. She grinned and turned around to face her sister, feeling a sudden urge to make out with her. Just before her lips reached Satsuki's, she got stopped by a finger placed on her mouth.

"Say, Ryuuko," Satsuki looked in the younger girl's eyes, clearly visible after they had gotten used to the darkness. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

For a while, Ryuuko kept opening and closing her mouth, much like a fish, before finally giving a coherent response. "I don't mi- wait, why is it _you_ asking _me_ out?" she frowned, trying to distract herself from another blush covering her cheeks.

"Well, I'm the older one here," Satsuki shrugged, replying matter-of-factly.

"Eh? What does it matter?"

"I take care of you. It's got to be me asking you out."

"No fuckin' way," Ryuuko opposed right off the bat. "Who protected you from the thugs earlier?"

"Okay then," Satsuki suddenly flashed a devilish grin. "Let's settle it fair and square."

With that, she got on all fours and trapped Ryuuko between her limbs, their faces lingering as close to each other as possible without making an actual contact.

The younger girl smirked, with a gleam of determination in her eyes, immediately catching on her sister's idea. With most of her strength already back, she immediately felt fired up and ready for the challenge. "Yea," she replied confidently. "By all means, let's."

Two hours later, Ryuuko allowed her sore and shaky body to finally hit the soft mattress of their bed, barely having any strength left to wipe the sweat off her brow.

Panting heavily, she uttered, "I give up...I- I'll be...your girlfriend." She felt every hickey that Satsuki had just left on her skin pulsing with heat, probably to make up for her being too tired to even think of being embarrassed any more.

Satsuki only let out a victorious hum of acknowledgement before curling next to her sister.

Ryuuko glanced at her sibling with a corner of her eye and couldn't help but smile anyway. _Always gets what she wants, huh?_ she thought, carefully putting one arm around the girl who was already fast asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Ryuuko woke up to pleasant warmth surrounding her and a feeling of slender fingers swiftly running through her hair. She opened her eyes, meeting Satsuki's amused gaze.

"M-mornin'," the younger girl muttered, still half-asleep, before yawning and cuddling closer to her sister.

She'd probably fall asleep again if not for a chuckle that came from Satsuki.

"What..." Ryuuko mumbled sleepily before sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"You're so cute when you sleep," Satsuki teased, poking her sister's cheek playfully.

Ryuuko looked at the other girl before she felt her ears suddenly getting hot. "T-the hell-" she frowned before catching on the other meaning. "Oy, are you insulting me?"

Satsuki responded with a burst of laughter before turning on her back and reaching out to grab her sister's arm, pulling her down on the bed again.

"You're really lively this morning," Ryuuko noted with a delicate smile after lying down on her back as well and turning her head to face the older girl.

"I can't help it," Satsuki said openly and shrugged, then flashed an impish grin. "Since I got myself a _cute girlfriend_."

Ryuuko felt her face quickly heating up and, before she knew it, she was already lying on her other side to hide it from her sister. "S-so what?" she stuttered, trying to keep her cool. She failed miserably the moment she remembered their last-night "battle", which she had obviously lost, for who would get to ask whom out.

Laughing out loud at the series of her flustered reactions was Satsuki behind her which, really, only added to Ryuuko's embarrassment.

It took the older girl a moment to calm down but, when she finally did, she asked more seriously, "Since our yesterday date got... _interrupted_ ," Satsuki stressed the last word. "Would you like to go on another one today? It's Saturday anyway."

Gathering her own dignity, Ryuuko nodded her head. "Sure, why not," she replied, turning back to face her sister. "Hey, do you...do you really think I'm cute?" she muttered suddenly, averting her gaze.

Satsuki grinned at her. "More than anything," she answered with a slightly teasing, but undeniably honest voice.

"Damn, you're just being cheesy now," Ryuuko complained but still got slightly red at the statement. "T-thanks," she murmured after a moment, feeling a hand softly ruffling her hair.

"Let's get up," Satsuki said after a while and sat up. "It's a good day to get you something cute to wear," she winked before leaving the bed to get dressed.

Ryuuko smiled to herself and closed her eyes, sighing contently. Then, she nodded her head. "Yea," she confirmed, getting up on her own.

It took them no more than an hour to eat breakfast and get ready to go out.

"How's your wound?" Ryuuko asked, inspecting the bandage her sister had on her neck before it got covered by a scarf.

"It doesn't hurt any more so it should be fine," Satsuki replied, while calmly buttoning her coat up.

They had left the apartment holding each other's hand, stepping into the elevator. Two more people, who got in on lower floors, kept casting curious glances at them but ultimately no one asked a thing.

"The mall isn't that far away, how about we take a walk?" the older girl asked after they had left the skyscraper.

"Sure," Ryuuko nodded, intertwining their fingers together.

She took a deep breath. The weather was just fine and the fact it had rained at night made the air feel refreshing.

Satsuki immediately took the lead after they had entered the mall, stepping into the first shop they encountered. "Ryuuko, what do you think?" she asked, picking up a black, pleated skirt and showing it to her sister.

Ryuuko looked at the garment, scratching her chin. "Would look good on you, I think," she said after a moment.

"It's for you," Satsuki corrected.

"Huh?"

"Here, go try it out, I'll hold your jacket."

"But I-" Ryuuko began but, before she finished, she got shoved inside the dressing room with the skirt in her hands. She sighed in defeat and took her jeans off, putting on the clothing Satsuki gave her instead.

She looked at herself in the mirror. The sight was strangely familiar, although the skirt was a bit longer than the one she was used to. Still, she decided, it didn't feel uncomfortable on her.

Ryuuko was about to open the curtain to the dressing room when suddenly a hand appeared through it, holding a red, buttoned shirt with black stripes going on it slantwise in two different directions.

"Try this one, too," Satsuki's voice commanded before the hand retreated, leaving Ryuuko with another garment to put on.

Without protesting, the girl took off her sweatshirt and t-shirt before putting on the shirt her sister gave her. Once she buttoned it up, she glanced into the mirror again and pondered for a moment. "I guess it ain't looking that ba-" she paused when the curtain got suddenly slid aside, revealing Satsuki with a serious expression and a whole stack of new clothes hanging on her forearm.

"Hmm, no, that's not it," the older girl stated. "Take it off, try this," she said, offering Ryuuko one more shirt, this time black with blue accents.

"Uh, sure," Ryuuko replied, taking the clothing from her sister's hands, and began unbuttoning the one she had on. "Er, do you mind...?" she asked, noticing that Satsuki was still standing in the open dressing room and eyeing her carefully.

They left the shop almost an hour later, each holding a bag full of clothes.

While Ryuuko looked plainly drained, Satsuki had a big, satisfied smile on her face. They took each other's hand again, walking further into the mall.

"Want to take a break?" Satsuki suggested, pointing at a set of tables near a small confectionery.

"Yea, I really need one right now" Ryuuko mumbled before directing her steps towards the place and dropping down on one of the chairs. She looked up but, to her surprise, Satsuki had disappeared. Turning around, she noticed the older girl near the confectionery counter, ordering two pieces of chocolate cake.

She smiled to herself and relaxed in the chair, waiting for her sister to come back. Sister...girlfriend, whichever it was, Ryuuko was just fine with both for as long as she could share her feelings and passion with Satsuki.

The older girl, however, seemed to be somewhat more excited about them deepening their bond like that and, apparently, didn't seem to be afraid of telling others about it, too.

"What are you thinking about?"

Satsuki's voice brought Ryuuko back to reality and she opened her eyes to see her sister already back and sitting down next to her.

"What you said last night," she replied. "Y'know, the part about our friends deserving to know what's between us."

"What about it?" Satsuki probed, digging in her dessert.

"Did you have someone particular on your mind?"

The older girl pondered for a moment. "Well, I won't hide I'd like my former Elite Four to know," she confessed. "They've been with me for better or worse and they still give me a lot of support whenever they can."

"Oh," Ryuuko responded, taking a bite of her own slice of cake. "I see."

"Isn't there anyone you would like to tell about it?"

"Dunno," the younger girl shrugged. "I guess I could tell Mako but, then again, I doubt it'd make any difference," she said and chuckled. "The folks would probably get it, too."

They finished their desserts and got up from the table. Linking their arms, they were about to leave when a voice nearby called them suddenly.

"Ryuuko-san! Ryuuko's Sister-san!"

Ryuuko quickly turned towards the source, recognizing the familiar accent. "Aria!" she called out with surprise. "Out for shopping?"

"Yep," the twin-tailed blonde replied cheerfully before moving her eyes to Satsuki. "Wow, you two don't look that much alike."

Satsuki stared at the girl for a moment with confusion. "Do we know each other?" she asked before noticing Ryuuko hitting her own forehead.

"Uh, sorry. Sis, this is Aria, the friend I made at uni," the younger girl clarified. "Aria, this is Satsuki, my older sister."

"Nice to meet you!" Aria reached her hand out towards Satsuki who shook it back, somewhat cautiously. "Anyway, I'll get going now. I'm with a friend and, since I saw you, I thought I'd just come and say hello," she said, pointing at a much shorter than herself girl roaming around the nearby shop.

Glancing at her, Ryuuko could swear that their eyes met for a split of second.

Having said that, Aria bowed briefly before excusing herself.

"She's kinda weird, don't take it against her," Ryuuko explained when the blonde was already out of sight. "I guess whole Europe must be kinda weird," she added after a moment, scratching her cheek.

Satsuki only smiled before taking her sister's hand. "She looks like a nice person," she commented. "Although her manners are a bit..."

"All over the place?" Ryuuko finished, chuckling lightly as they began walking towards the next shop.

* * *

There were days at university, as Ryuuko noticed, that were simply annoying and irritating, be it for a sudden change in schedule or a series of tiring lectures. This time, fate had decided to go for the former.

"Hi, um, Sats, are you back home already?" Ryuuko asked, quietly hoping to hear a 'no' coming from her phone speaker.

 _"No, not yet. I'm only leaving the faculty. Why?"_

"Uh, I kinda got two hours free right now and got nothing to do."

" _And you called me to ask to keep you company?"_ Even though Ryuuko couldn't see her sister's face, she could swear, thanks to the tone of her voice, that the older girl was grinning like a Cheshire cat at the moment.

"Er, yea, well, Aria went to her dorm and to take care of some stuff so..."

" _Okay, I'll be right there. Where are you? Want me to get you something to eat along the way?"_

"Nah, just some water is fine," Ryuuko replied, walking into a small, empty corridor with a few seats at its far end. "I'm on the fourth floor."

" _Get some place for us to sit in peace,"_ Satsuki requested before she bid a quick goodbye and ended the call.

Sitting down on one of the chairs, near a window, Ryuuko put her hands behind her head and sighed. "God dammit, uni really sucks ass at times..." she said to no one in particular after checking the hour on her cellphone.

She had been at her faculty for three hours already that day and she still had five more to go, two of which serving as a completely _pointless_ break right in the middle. Meanwhile Satsuki was already free to go and kind enough to keep her company before the second half of classes began.

"You should have called me sooner," Satsuki's voice sounded suddenly in the corridor.

Grinning at her sister, Ryuuko waved her hand nonchalantly. "Really, I forgot you finish your classes that early today."

Sitting next to her sibling, Satsuki handed her a bottle of water. "Here. How is it going so far?"

"Eh, not bad," Ryuuko took a few gulps of the liquid. "Though, this break in the middle kinda sucks."

"Well, we got some time to spend together, at least," Satsuki pointed out, taking a glance at the empty corridor before putting her arm confidently around Ryuuko's shoulders.

The younger girl shot her a slightly surprised glance but didn't protest. Instead, she closed her eyes and relaxed in her sit, allowing her sister to pull her closer.

Satsuki raised her brow. "I actually expected you to get all flustered about it," she commented teasingly.

Ryuuko snorted in reply. "I guess I'm getting used to your antics, sis."

They kept sitting and simply enjoying each other's presence until the younger girl had decided to break the silence.

"I feel like kissing you."

"We can't, we're in public," Satsuki replied calmly.

"Buuut," Ryuuko frowned, crossing her arms on her chest. "Look, there's no one there."

"Well, last time we thought the same thing."

"It ain't like someone's gonna try to beat us up here," the younger sibling retorted.

Satsuki sighed, noticing that her sister was clearly missing the point. "There can be other consequences."

"Like?"

"Like someone seeing us and telling a wrong person about it."

This time it was Ryuuko who sighed before standing up. She quickly paced to the other end of the corridor, looking around and glancing behind the wall and the staircase. Then, she came back and sat down next to her sister, glaring at her with determination.

"There. I checked. We're completely alone."

"You're a persistent little thing," Satsuki spoke calmly, staring back at Ryuuko with a poker face.

"Don't call me 'little'."

"Shorty."

"Damn, you're still unnerving at times," Ryuuko retorted but cracked a smile nevertheless.

Satsuki grinned with confidence. "Don't say it as if you don't like it."

"I don't."

"Liar," the older girl whispered before leaning in and pulling Ryuuko into a kiss.

They kept a slow, steady pace at first, just gently brushing their mouths against each other's, until Ryuuko suddenly bit Satsuki's lip and forced her tongue inside her mouth. From that point, it quickly escalated into a long battle for dominance over one another, out of which none of them had really emerged victorious.

"Oh shit, my mouth hurts," Ryuuko groaned, relaxing again in her seat after something that had to be roughly twenty minutes worth of passionate kissing.

"You started it yourself, you have no right to complain now," Satsuki replied smoothly before taking a lip balm out of her purse and gently applying it on her own, similarly swollen lips.

Ryuuko frowned. "Says who? You ain't innocent either since you just kept going," she retorted and took the lip balm from her sister's hand after the girl had finished. "Hm, smells nice," she commented.

"Keep it, your lips felt a bit dry."

"Uh," Ryuuko blushed lightly. Not that she was good at keeping an eye on these things. Having used it, she looked at the lip balm again and closed it, putting it into her pocket and muttering a brief "thanks".

"You're welcome," Satsuki replied, resting the back of her head against the wall and closing her eyes contently. "Satisfied now?" she asked with a teasing tone, glancing at her sister.

Grinning widely, Ryuuko replied, "You bet," and, this time, she put her own arm around Satsuki.

The older girl's lips curled up ever so slightly in satisfaction.

The remaining time had passed relatively quickly, although in a much calmer and less dominance-driven way.

After glancing at her cellphone, Ryuuko sighed audibly. "Eh, I gotta get going, my lecture starts in a few minutes," she complained, reluctantly slipping out of the embrace that her sister had pulled her into at some point.

"Do your best," Satsuki gave her an encouraging smile. "I'll be waiting for you at home."

"'kay," Ryuuko winked before bending over and giving the girl a quick peck on the lips. She felt her cheeks reddening slightly but she just grinned and waved at Satsuki before heading towards the lecture hall.

* * *

"I'm home!" Ryuuko notified, entering the apartment and being generally glad to finally be back after the long day she had. Only to be greeted by silence. "Sats?" she called out, looking around.

She had eventually found the older girl in her room, sitting quietly on a sofa with a thoughtful expression.

"Sis? Something wrong?" Ryuuko asked tentatively, stepping closer. Then, she noticed a cellphone that Satsuki was holding. "Got another meeting appointed?" she probed, sitting next to her sister.

"No," the girl replied briefly, not moving her gaze. "I called Nonon."

Ryuuko tilted her head. "And how did that make you-"

"I told her that we're dating," Satsuki interjected calmly.

The younger girl's mouth formed into an 'o'. "I guess...she didn't take it well?" she asked.

Her sibling remain unmoved. "She said it's wrong," she spoke eventually in an emotionless way. "She told me to get real and stop screwing around with my own sister."

Ryuuko felt her blood beginning to boil with every word that she heard. She bit her lip, trying to contain her anger at Jakuzure. "Satsuki..." she said with a low voice, crawling closer, and did the first thing that came to her mind. Tentatively, she embraced her sister, pressing her head to her heart.

Eventually, Satsuki's façade slowly began to break. She dropped her phone and raised her hands to Ryuuko, clenching to her tightly. "I'm such a fool..." she whispered, tightening her hold.

Ryuuko felt a dull ache appearing in her own chest. Her sister's silent anguish was suffocating and perhaps she'd rather the girl to break down and start crying. Something she never did. And so Ryuuko wished there was a way to at least reassure Satsuki, share her pain, maybe even lessen it and lift it off her shoulders. Even if just a little bit. She would do anything for such chance to happen.

"Ryuuko...tonight, could we...?" Satsuki's meek voice sounded suddenly in the younger girl's ears.

Were her wishes answered just now? Ryuuko stared in her sister's blue eyes for a moment.

"Please..." the older girl whispered. "I...really need you right now..."

Then, Ryuuko slowly nodded her head. "Yea," she lowered herself, planting a gentle kiss on her sister's lips before giving it a more aggressive twist. "Anytime," she added quietly, half-closing her eyes.

Satsuki let out a muffled sigh when she felt Ryuuko's hand grabbing and pulling her hair. She closed her eyes and felt herself being straddled before two rows of teeth got sank in the crook of her neck.

Ryuuko grimaced at the pained groan that Satsuki had let out and pulled back immediately, inspecting the skin with her eyes, looking at multiple little bruises and scarred dots that covered the area. Some of them older, some still fresh. All of them, except for one, already fading cut, were made by her.

 _No wonder it hurts..._ she thought to herself grimly and carefully licked off the droplets of blood that began decorating Satsuki's neck.

"More...Ryuuko, please, more..." Satsuki's voice was painfully pleading, desperate even.

Ryuuko closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She had already stopped being so approving of causing her sister pain during love-making, and yet it was the kind of voice she couldn't resist, no matter what. Then again, if it was really going to help... She bit her own lip, hesitating for a second. _Fight fire with fire, huh?_

Then, she pulled Satsuki into a forceful kiss, pinning her with her body against the couch while grabbing her chest. Her other hand moved down and below her sister's waist in rough and careless manner.

For the rest of the night, even long after they had lied down to sleep, Satsuki's sighs of pleasure and pain kept echoing within Ryuuko's mind.

 _ **End of Chapter 3**_

* * *

 **A/N:** Just to be clear, Golden Rose is the name of the (fictional) skyscraper that Ryuuko and Satsuki live in. I just thought it'd be a fitting name for a place like that.

Thank you for reading, I hope you had a good time. See you next Sunday :)


	4. Secrets

**A/N:** For some reason, I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I ended up rewriting some parts over and over again until I decided that they finally fit and I honestly apologize if it appears somewhat over-processed.

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 4: Secrets**_

" _I take that you won't give us your blessing?"_

" _No, I won't. I'm sorry, Satsuki-chan. If you two are going to keep this up, don't contact me ever again."_

"Satsuki, what's wrong?"

The girl in question looked up suddenly, noticing Ryuuko staring at her carefully. "It's nothing. I just spaced out," she replied nonchalantly, going back to her food and trying to eat, even though she wasn't feeling hungry.

Mostly because of a twisting sensation in her stomach and masses of thoughts constantly reappearing in her mind.

Except for a persistent feeling of being betrayed, it wasn't really what Nonon said yesterday. It was more of _why_ she said that. And, of all people, Satsuki refused to believe that her childhood friend would be the one to tell her off just because she didn't approve of her choice. No. There had to be more to it-

"Thanks for the meal."

A sound of a chair being moved, along with Ryuuko's voice, suddenly derailed Satsuki's train of thoughts.

Sitting back at the table, the younger girl looked carefully at her sister.

"What is it?" Satsuki asked collectedly after a moment, looking up from her plate. "You've been staring at me a lot recently."

"You've been acting strange a lot recently," Ryuuko immediately retorted, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Strange? How so?" putting on an indifferent expression, the older girl kept munching on her food.

With a corner of her eye, she noticed her sibling scowling in disapproval.

"You really think I didn't notice?" Ryuuko pointed out, trying to keep her annoyance in check. "You reek of bleakness behind that mask of yours, yet you act like there ain't nothing wrong," she spoke seriously while Satsuki kept eating calmly. "Look, I get it's hard on you," the younger girl continued, trying to milden her own voice a little. "Why won't you rely on me more?"

Pausing, Satsuki sighed quietly and closed her eyes. It wasn't like she was not relying on Ryuuko. Not at all. It was just-

"You ain't being honest with me, Sats," Ryuuko picked up again suddenly with a hint of disappointment. "But you wanted _me_ to be honest with _you_ so lemme give you a piece of it," she added after a moment of silence, sounding audibly more annoyed. "It pisses me off when you're so obviously in pain and yet you refuse to accept any help." With that, the girl stood up from the table and left the kitchen.

This time, Satsuki allowed herself to let out an audible sigh. "You have no idea how much you've helped me already," she spoke distantly to Ryuuko, even though the girl couldn't hear her any more.

For all the years when their mother was alive, Satsuki always kept her pain concealed. She had to. Showing her weaknesses meant defeat. She couldn't afford it, not when so many things were on stake back then.

Then again, Ryuuko was not aware of all that. In general, she knew very little about Satsuki's past. She knew enough to not ask about it when the older girl was not talking on her own, and Satsuki, too, was not particularly keen on bringing this topic up.

Propping her forehead on her hand, Satsuki finally gave up on finishing her already cold food. Maybe Ryuuko was right about her not being honest... Maybe she should have told the younger girl about everything. Even though just the presence of her sister was enough for Satsuki to feel stronger.

Maybe there was nothing wrong with finally reaching out to someone after all...?

Closing her eyes for a moment, Satsuki stood up and began cleaning the table. Having finished, she directed her steps towards Ryuuko's room. She stood in front of it for a few seconds before she knocked on the door gently a few times.

"Come in," she heard from the other side.

Entering inside the dimly lit room, Satsuki saw Ryuuko lying down on her sofa. Quietly, the older girl sat down next to her sister, who slowly began sitting up herself, and crossed her legs, resting against the backrest.

"It's...difficult," Satsuki began softly, closing her eyes.

Raising her brow, Ryuuko looked at her sibling. "What is?"

"Opening up," the older girl specified. "After all the time I had to bear with things alone, keeping everything inside feels like a part of me now," she spoke calmly with unfaltering voice. "I'm sorry, I should have told you that sooner."

"Oh..." the younger girl opened her mouth before closing it again. No, it was her who should have figured that out sooner. "It's fine," she muttered eventually. "I...just wanna help you, y'know."

"I know," the reply was serene and, soon after, Satsuki took Ryuuko's hand in her own. "Just the fact you're here with me means a lot to me." Seeing a somewhat dubious expression on her sister's face, she grinned and added, "You can sometimes act annoyingly persistent but your presence is soothing."

The younger girl averted her eyes for a moment. There was something in Satsuki's words, however cliché they sounded. "I'll...be there for you then," Ryuuko mumbled, squeezing the hand that held hers. Her lips curled slightly upwards. "So, next time, lemme know when you just need me to stay with you," she spoke with more confidence, looking her sister in the eyes.

Satsuki nodded delicately. "Thank you," she whispered, returning the gaze.

They stared into each other's eyes, feeling their faces closing slowly like two magnets. Satsuki closed her eyelids, tilting her head instinctively, and so did Ryuuko, and a second after their lips touched in a tender kiss.

Placing one hand on Ryuuko's cheek, Satsuki intertwined their fingers with the other one, feeling a delicate touch of Ryuuko's fingertips against her collar. Soon, the younger girl's lips moved away from hers and began slowly trailing down her jaw and neck, stopping from time to time to bite and nip on the skin.

To Ryuuko's surprise, Satsuki gently pushed her away. "It's okay, you don't have to force yourself," the older girl's cool, yet gentle voice sounded in the already darkened of the room.

Still noticing a sign of distress on her sister's face, Satsuki leaned in and kissed her one more time.

Having pulled back after a few seconds, Ryuuko muttered, "I'm not...really..." Averting her gaze, she felt Satsuki's hand on her cheek. "It...makes you feel better after all, ain't it?" she asked tentatively.

"It's okay," Satsuki repeated. "I knew for a while that it's been bothering you," she added, her collected tone bearing an audible hint of regret. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for," frowning, Ryuuko replied with a slightly chiding voice.

"Because I knew that and I still asked you for it last night."

Sitting beside her sister, Ryuuko rested her shoulder against Satsuki's. "I, uh," she stuttered, sensing the guilt in her sibling's speech. "I figured it'd help you so...I didn't really mind," she mumbled.

In reality, it was just half the truth.

Believing that it would help was what pushed her to give her sister what she was asking for. But that was one thing. On the other hand...the knowledge that she had to cause Satsuki pain to ease another kind of pain was far from something she wouldn't mind.

She felt Satsuki's arms wrapping around her gently.

"Y'know, I just ain't getting it," Ryuuko picked up after a while. "Since you can be really...y'know, gentle when you...uh, touch me," she specified with slight embarrassment, suddenly feeling Satsuki tensing up.

The silence that fell after felt incredibly heavy and it took Satsuki a moment to break it. "It's because of her," she spoke finally, almost emotionless. "She would often touch me in a gentle way. I hated it."

Resisting her urge to hit her own head for bringing this topic up, Ryuuko reached out and once again took her sister's hand, holding it firmly. "Sorry, I-" she started but Satsuki silenced her smoothly.

"When I feel this kind of touch on myself, I start recalling what she did," the girl continued with her naturally cold voice. "I can't take it," she took a long pause and, with softening tone, she picked up once more, "Then again, I wanted to feel your touch, and I found it was the only way for me. I...guess I ended up pushing you too far again."

"I didn't know..." Ryuuko whispered sombrely and squeezed Satsuki's hand. She felt her anger raising again but she tried to control it. Now wasn't the time. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked in a grim tone.

"I never told anyone about it before," Satsuki replied, resting her head on Ryuuko's shoulder. "You're the first person to know that part of my past."

Ryuuko suddenly felt a twist in her stomach. So Satsuki had never talked with anyone about the abuse she had suffered. But she trusted her, the short-tempered girl who couldn't take a hint, with the painful secret she had only kept to herself until now.

"What else did she do to you?" Ryuuko asked before she even thought about it, trying her best to not let her sister know how furious she felt after suddenly realizing that their mother had damaged Satsuki far more than she had ever dared to imagine.

"Why do you ask?" the older girl's body was still tensed beyond any normal level, while her expression was just as indifferent as it could be, but her voice bore traces of warmth when she turned to Ryuuko.

"They say, y'know, it's...easier after you talk to someone 'bout it," Ryuuko muttered quietly, feeling her heart beating faster as she turned to her sister and shyly planted a tender kiss on the top of her head.

Satsuki nestled closer, wrapping her arms tighter around Ryuuko. "It's nothing pleasant to listen to," she spoke collectedly, closing her eyes.

Ryuuko didn't reply. Not verbally, at least. Instead, she intertwined her fingers with Satsuki's, giving her hand another gentle squeeze.

The older girl took a deep breath, then quietly let it out. "It started when I was still a child," she began, her voice was cold and distant. "Shortly after our father left."

If Ryuuko had ever thought that she couldn't bear more hatred towards their mother than she already did, she was clearly wrong. By the time Satsuki finished her tale, she found herself trembling and seething with anger, and the only factor keeping her from exploding was her own sister she was holding.

Satsuki, on the other hand, stayed strong and collected for the whole time, calmly revealing more and more of their mother's rotten and twisted whims and habits. Ryuuko, however, knew better than anyone that it was just a façade. She could feel every part of her sister's body being abnormally tensed, as if made of stone.

When the older girl had finished, both of them fell quiet. There was just a soft rustle of Ryuuko's clothes against the sofa as she turned to Satsuki and embraced her tightly, for once realizing that probably the only thing her sister needed at that moment was simply her presence.

"This is why, yesterday, after I called Nonon..." Satsuki paused, having picked up suddenly after long minutes of silence. "She was always there supporting me, even though she never knew the details of what was going on."

Once again, Ryuuko felt a surge of hatred towards Jakuzure for turning her back to Satsuki like that. The more, considering that her sister trusted her with their secret.

 _To hell with that midget,_ she thought eventually. She was the one who was by Satsuki's side now, supporting her. "Hey, Sats," the younger girl spoke suddenly, feeling her sibling stir slightly in her arms. "'bout what you said... If there's something I can do...anything," she said with low voice but, to her surprise, Satsuki shook her head.

"Thank you," the older girl whispered, tightening her hold. "You have no idea how grateful I am to you for hearing me out," she paused for a while. "But I can't use you as a mean to heal my own wounds."

Ryuuko frowned slightly. That was exactly what she wanted Satsuki to do. "I don't mind," she replied. When her sister didn't answer, she repeated, "I don't mind if you use me."

It took another long moment but, eventually, Satsuki reacted. "Why?" she asked, raising her head and looking Ryuuko in the eyes.

"Uh," the girl stuttered, suddenly realizing how utterly naïve and embarrassing her reasoning was. "I...guess I just want you to be...happy, y'know," she responded, averting her eyes yet again. She felt a palm on her cheek directing her head back to face her sister.

"Ryuuko," Satsuki spoke with confidence, smiling delicately and resting her forehead against Ryuuko's. "I feel blessed to have you with me."

Blushing, the younger girl didn't even try to stop herself from grinning at the words. She closed her eyes and moved her hands up, resting them on Satsuki's cheeks. "So...does that mean there _is_ something?" she asked, caressing the skin on her sister's face with her thumbs.

To her astonishment, Satsuki let out a light-hearted chuckle. "Have I ever told you how persistent you are?" she spoke calmly with silvery voice.

Ryuuko felt her ears getting warm but she just chuckled on her own at the remark. "Ain't it what you like 'bout me?" she retorted, mocking her sister from the day before.

The difference was, Satsuki was way more honest and straightforward with her feelings. "I love everything about you," she replied teasingly, nevertheless truthfully, before pulling slightly flustered Ryuuko into a kiss.

The first touch of their lips was brief and delicate. Tilting their heads, they went for another one, and then one more, finding the act bringing them a much needed relief of the stress they both had built up.

Pushing Ryuuko gently back on the sofa, Satsuki climbed on top of her and kissed the girl once more. This time, it lingered on for a longer while until they both had to finally pause to take a breath.

"Say, Ryuuko," Satsuki's quiet voice sounded next to the girl's ear, full of seriousness in contrast to her earlier, however brief, liveliness. "There...is something that I've been considering," she spoke calmly and paused, searching for words.

Catching on the uneasiness in her sister's tone, Ryuuko put her arm around the older girl's waist reassuringly.

"Could you...touch me?" Satsuki requested after a moment. "Gently, tenderly, like I touch you," she added, noticing confusion on Ryuuko's face.

The younger girl's heartbeat sped up upon these words. "Are you sure?" she asked tentatively. Every part of her wanted to comply and show Satsuki how pure this kind of contact could be. On the other hand...considering what she had learnt just a while ago, what her sister asked for was at least surprising. "I mean, I'm fine with-" she paused when Satsuki had placed a finger on her lips, quieting her instantly.

"For the whole time, I was scared to face it. I still am," the older girl confessed, receiving another surprised look from Ryuuko, to whom the word 'scared' just didn't belong near her sister's name. "But your presence makes me feel stronger. Like I could finally overcome it."

"Why didn't you ask for that earlier?"

"Because I never wanted to place this burden on you. And I'm still not-"

"Sats," this time Ryuuko silenced the girl with a gentle kiss. "I'm glad if I can take it away."

Motioning her sister to straddle her lap, Ryuuko sat up, wrapping her arms around Satsuki before kissing her once more. She nibbled gently on her lip and began slowly trailing down her jaw, eventually levelling her eyes with her sibling's neck. She bared her teeth, ready to bite into it out of habit, but quickly composed herself and, instead, planted a tender kiss on the pale skin in front of her.

Going further down, Ryuuko felt Satsuki's arms wrapping around her tightly. "Are you okay?" the younger girl asked, pausing to look at her sister.

"I'm fine," Satsuki whispered, nodding her head and gently motioning Ryuuko to go on.

And so she did, feeling the hold around her tightening with every inch her lips travelled down her sister's body and every time her fingers touched and brushed against the heated skin, sensing the tension settling underneath.

* * *

Panting heavily, Ryuuko fell back on the sofa in her room, soon followed by equally drained and tired Satsuki.

Raising her hand up to her forehead, the younger girl let out a lengthy sigh.

Ryuuko turned to her side after a moment, glancing at her remarkably more peaceful looking sibling. "Sats?" she spoke quietly, making the girl next to her open one eye.

"Yes?"

"Your shoulder is bleeding," Ryuuko pointed out, reaching her hand out above her sister to grab a box of tissues that lied on a small table near the sofa. Taking one tissue out, she folded it a couple of times and put to the wound. "Hold it here for a moment, I'll go get a band aid."

Satsuki complied quietly, closing her eye again and resting on her stomach.

Less than a minute passed before Ryuuko was back again with a whole first-aid kit. Straddling her sister's waist, the younger girl opened the red box and carefully began disinfecting each new wound she had just left on Satsuki's body. Most of times, not always, they would close themselves by the time they had finished.

Ryuuko narrowed her eyes. "At least we tried, huh...?" she muttered, continuing her task. In the end, she was the one who went back to their old way of making love when she noticed that Satsuki was all but comfortable with how the things were going. She didn't like it but, in the same time, she didn't regret making that decision. At least the older girl seemed to be way more at ease now.

Satsuki didn't reply. Instead, her sister could feel her muscles shuddering slightly each time the disinfectant touched her broken skin.

"I'm sorry, Sats," Ryuuko whispered after she had finished, lowering herself down and pressing her bare front against Satsuki's back.

"It's not your fault, Ryuuko," the older girl replied calmly and, after a moment, she added, "Thank you for always looking out for me."

Grimacing bitterly, Ryuuko rested her face in Satsuki's hair. Was she really always looking out for her sister? After all, there were so many things she was unable to protect her from. So many things she simply couldn't help her with. And she was sure there was still more to come.

Gently, Ryuuko brushed her fingertips against the older girl's neck, still sensing a faint line left on it by a knife, and kissed it tenderly.

She felt Satsuki's palm resting on her cheek and caressing it ever so delicately before a quiet whisper came, "Ryuuko?"

"Yea?"

"I love you," Satsuki's voice was unusually serene.

Feeling her heart momentally pounding harder in her chest, Ryuuko rested her face in the crook of Satsuki's neck. "Me too," she muttered, closing her eyes and enjoying the blissful warmth of her sister's body.

* * *

The next day, Wednesday, was, out of all weekdays, one that Ryuuko had adored the most. University wasn't a drag; she had little classes, and a boring lecture in the middle during which she could take a nap. What was most important, however, was the fact it was the only day during which she could go to and from university along with Satsuki.

"Are you getting ready? We need to go out in 10 minutes," sounded from the hall.

Which sometimes was a challenge on its own.

"Uh, shit," Ryuuko cursed, still going through her notebooks, trying to find a particular one. "Yea, I'll be right there," she shouted back, finally noticing what she was searching for. Having shoved it into her bag, she quickly opened her wardrobe. "Dammit," she looked briefly at all the new clothes she got recently, noticing one, major problem with it. She didn't know what to wear. "Okay, screw it," she cursed under her breath again, reaching out for one, particular clothing, that Satsuki had insisted on getting, and to which she had agreed only because she really didn't think she would wear it any time soon.

"Hurry it up, Ryuuko, we have to-" Satsuki began when the younger girl came to the front door and began putting her shoes on. Before she finished her sentence, she paused, eyeing her sister with a sly grin.

"What," Ryuuko retorted, concentrating on tying her shoelaces instead of on her reddening ears.

"Nothing," the older sibling replied with a somewhat teasing tone. "It looks good on you," she added after a moment.

This time, the redness had spread from Ryuuko's ears to her cheeks and neck. Standing up, the girl muttered, "L-let's go already." Briefly straightening her new, black skirt and pulling it slightly down to cover her legs better, she put her jacket on and urged her sister to the door.

Ryuuko was totally _not_ used to wearing skirts casually. Especially when she wasn't forced to have them as a part of her daily attire any more.

Walking out of the skyscraper, the two sisters linked their arms together, like they usually would, and directed their steps towards the university.

"Did you rent this place 'cause it's so close to everything?" Ryuuko asked when she spotted the university grounds in the distance after only a few minutes of walking.

"No, it was the best quality I could find in this city," Satsuki replied casually.

That sounded kind of typical, as Ryuuko concluded. "Hey, sis," she picked up suddenly, receiving a questioning hum in response. "Have you ever thought about growing your hair back?" she asked after randomly glancing at Satsuki's hair which grew slightly past her shoulders.

It took a moment before the older girl answered. "Not really," she negated, reaching out to put a stray strand behind her ear. "It feels refreshing this way. It's like I'm not tied to my older self as much any more."

"Oh," Ryuuko responded before falling quiet for a while. "I think short hair suits you better anyway," she muttered, fixing her eyes on something in the distance, even though her sister couldn't exactly see her face. "You don't look like an obnoxious bitch any more, y'know."

"Why, thank you," Satsuki replied in a playfully wry manner but still felt a smile forming on her lips, knowing that it was her sibling's way of saying that she actually looked cute. "Ryuuko," the older girl turned to her sister after a moment.

"Yea?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Uh," Ryuuko, who was actually more quiet than usually, tensed slightly at the question. "I dunno, I keep having this stupid feeling..."

"What feeling?" Satsuki probed carefully, still having her eyes fixed on their destination.

"That someone's, uh, y'know, watching us."

The older girl didn't reply.

"Sats?"

"I heard you," Satsuki answered calmly.

"Then why-" Ryuuko began but paused immediately. Could it be Satsuki had noticed that, too? Trying to act as casually as possible on her own, Ryuuko kept walking hand in hand with her sister until they reached the entrance to their faculty.

"Well, I need to go to the library before my lecture starts," Satsuki informed just before they entered inside.

"Oh, 'kay," the younger girl nodded. "Have fun with your books," she grinned.

Satsuki smirked and replied, "Have a good sleep."

Ryuuko's face reddened immediately. She opened her mouth to make a witty come back but her sister was already walking away with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Good morning, Ryuuko-san- oooooh, oh gosh, you look so different today! So pretty!"

The brunette shrank from the cheerful voice that sounded behind her. "Aria, please, not you too..." she mumbled, trying to pull her jacket down to cover her skirt.

* * *

Suppressing a yawn, Ryuuko left the lecture hall, looking around for a place where she could eat her lunch in peace. Having found nothing eligible, she was about to direct her steps towards the higher floor before she got stopped by an unknown voice.

"Um, Matoi-san? Am I correct?"

Ryuuko turned to see a black-haired girl, slightly shorter than herself, staring at her attentively. Surprised, Ryuuko opened her mouth but the girl spoke first.

"Do you mind if ask you a question?" she asked, putting a smile on her face.

Ryuuko shrugged indifferently. "You already did," she replied, not sure where that person knew her name from.

The girl let out a saccharin chuckle. "You're amusing, Matoi-san."

"Do we know each other?"

"Not really. Well, at least you don't know me," she responded mysteriously with unfaltering expression.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, Ryuuko measured her up and down before saying, "Whatever. Just ask what you wanted to ask, I'm kinda hungry."

"I'll get to the point then. What's your relationship with Kiryuuin-san from the 2nd year?"

"Huh?" This time, Ryuuko frowned. How did she know Satsuki? "Why do you wanna know?" she probed cautiously.

"I'm interested in her," the girl spoke straightforwardly. "Romantically."

Ryuuko felt her eyebrow twitching slightly at the all too familiar demanding attitude. "Too bad," she replied coldly. "She's taken."

The girl raised her brow curiously. "Oh? Could it be that she's with you?"

Carefully eyeing the girl, Ryuuko looked her in the eye. "No matter whom she's with," she answered evasively. "She's taken already so give up."

The girl giggled. "Well, thank you for the information," she said cheerfully, _too cheerfully_ , before leaving Ryuuko to her own thoughts.

"The hell did she know my name from..." Ryuuko followed the girl with her eyes for a moment. She looked strangely familiar, yet she was sure she had never seen her among the people from her course.

Sighing, Ryuuko turned around and almost bumped into an all-too-happy Aria.

"Oh, Ryuuko-san, you made friends with Yoru-chan?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Yoru...chan?" Ryuuko repeated, looking at her friend and frowning. "Aria, do you know her?"

"Yep, she's my roommate," Aria responded. "She's from the 2nd year, she asked about you the other day."

In the depths of her mind, Ryuuko saw a vague memory of a girl, similar to the one that had just talked to her, walking around the shop in their nearby mall while she was on her date with Satsuki. So she was that friend Aria mentioned back then?

That explained why she looked somewhat familiar and why she knew her and Satsuki's names.

 _Wait_ , Ryuuko thought suddenly. If she knew Aria then she almost surely knew that she and Satsuki were sisters. If she asked about Ryuuko's relationship with Satsuki...

"Shit..." Ryuuko cursed under her nose.

That wasn't a good omen at all.

She looked at Aria and, before the blonde managed to protest, she grabbed her wrist and dragged her along with her.

...

"Okay, Aria, you gotta tell me all you know about that Yoru," Ryuuko looked seriously at the blonde sitting in front of her in the university cafeteria.

Aria raised her brow, taking a bite of her strawberry pudding. "Why are you interested in her so suddenly, Ryuuko-san?"

"Uh, I," Ryuuko stuttered. Not that she could tell the whole reason to Aria without revealing that she and Satsuki were, in fact, more than sisters. "Dunno, she's kinda creepy," she said eventually. However she looked at it, that wasn't far from truth at all.

The blonde frowned. "Creepy? Are you sure you're not talking about someone else?" she asked with confusion apparent on her face. "I mean, she's a nice person, as far as I know her. Her boyfriend is a good guy, too."

"Boyfriend?" This time it was Ryuuko who frowned.

"Yep," Aria nodded happily. "He's tall, wears glasses, and they're so lovey-dovey when they are together it's suuuper cute!" the girl beamed before going back to her pudding.

 _So she lied about her interest in Satsuki...?_ Not really sharing her friend's enthusiasm, Ryuuko crossed her arms, leaning herself against the backrest of her chair. If what Yoru said was a lie, what was her real reason? Should she tell Satsuki to watch out for her?

Cursing under her breath, Ryuuko took out her lunch and stared at it for a moment before putting it back into her bag again. In the end, she didn't feel hungry any more.

* * *

"How did it go today?" Satsuki asked as they were walking back home, hand in hand.

Taking a few seconds to process the question, Ryuuko replied eventually, "Fine."

"Did something happen?"

Again, a long pause before any sort of reaction came. "Why do you ask?"

Satsuki continued casually, "You have it written all over your face."

Ryuuko didn't respond.

"Let me know if you feel like talking about it," the older girl said after a longer while of silence between them.

"Yea," Ryuuko spoke absent-mindedly, putting her hands into her pockets. She didn't react even when Satsuki linked their arms together. Right now, her mind was somewhere completely else.

Not that Ryuuko could do much about that weird girl from earlier anyway. Still, all she could think of was her possible intentions and how to react to them. That, and she felt as if any wrong move could result with something terribly unpleasant.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Even after arriving back home, Ryuuko just quietly went to help Satsuki with making dinner in hope that it would somehow bring her any idea of what to do. Well, there was something she was considering.

They ate in silence, too, and, having finished the food, Satsuki moved to the living room, quickly followed by Ryuuko.

The older girl sat calmly down on the sofa and, as if not noticing her younger sister's presence, began reading a book.

"Um, Sats?" Ryuuko picked up, sitting in one of the armchairs.

Not lifting her eyes, Satsuki replied, "Yes?"

"I, uh, guess I gotta talk to you about something," the younger girl began clumsily. It felt like Satsuki knew this would happen sooner or later.

"Rei is going to drop in soon, she called me earlier today, saying that she's in the city and needs to see me," Satsuki informed and, after that, looked at Ryuuko with her casually unreadable expression. "Is it okay if we talk after she leaves?" she asked, curling her lips slightly into a soft smile.

The younger girl raised her eyebrows. "Oh, sure."

Well, that wasn't bad either. At least she knew the talk would happen and had some time to put all of her doubts and observations well into words.

It didn't take long before a doorbell rang suddenly, making Ryuuko realize, for the first time, that they actually had one. Then again, it wasn't like anyone visited them before.

"Hello, Rei," Satsuki greeted, opening the door.

"Yo, long time no see," Ryuuko grinned and waved briefly at an African girl that stepped through the door.

"Good afternoon, Satsuki-san, Ryuuko-san," Rei replied, bowing slightly to each one of them before taking her coat off, revealing an elegant, beige uniform that was hidden under it.

Scratching her head, the younger girl perplexed and said, "Uh, each time we meet I tell you that you don't have to bow to me and all that shit."

"Each time we meet I explain to you that it's just my way of showing gratitude and respect," Rei answered smoothly with a hint of amusement in her tone to which, unknowingly to Ryuuko, Satsuki grinned briefly.

"Eh, whatever," Ryuuko muttered. "Anyway, I'm wanna call Mako so I'm gonna leave you two to your business," she added, noticing a thick briefcase that Rei was holding.

"Rei, would you like some tea?" Satsuki asked right before Ryuuko was about to leave, a little bit louder than necessary. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid my little sister would make a _terrible_ host," she stressed, watching with interest as Ryuuko's face began gaining a pinkish hue.

"Uh, I'll go make some," the younger girl replied immediately, quickly pacing towards the kitchen while furiously scratching the back of her head, followed by _annoyingly amused_ gazes of both Rei and Satsuki.

* * *

"Does she know?" Ryuuko asked a while after Rei had left, when she found herself sitting in the living room with Satsuki again after a few hours.

"No," the older girl replied nonchalantly. "Why do you ask?"

Ryuuko shifted in her seat. "Uh, It was kinda random. I got approached by this weird girl at lunch," she said finally and, noticing her sister raising her brow curiously, she continued, "She asked me what's my relationship with you."

Frowning, Satsuki propped her chin on her hand and asked, "What did you tell her?"

"Nothing, obviously," Ryuuko replied, crossing her arms. "She said she was into you but I just told her you're taken."

"How did she look like?"

Noticing the interest in her sister's voice, Ryuuko described the girl briefly, at least as accurately as she remembered, before adding, "Seems she's from 2nd year and is Aria's roommate, or something. Came out she actually has a boyfriend so I guess that shit about her falling for you or whatever was a lie."

"I see," Satsuki pondered for a moment, closing her eyes.

"Sats, do you know her?" the younger girl looked at her sibling carefully.

"No, not really. I do recall seeing a person you've just described various times during my lectures but I have surely never talked to her."

Ryuuko let out a sigh, somewhat relieved, and somewhat nervous because she still had no idea what to do with someone who could possibly be a troublemaker. Except for teaching her a lesson or two, that is. The catch was, it was a _slightly_ different world than the one she was used to.

"If she really lied about her interest in me then she has to have some ulterior motive behind it," Satsuki picked up suddenly with a thoughtful expression. "Ryuuko, you said this morning that you felt like someone was watching us, right?"

"Yea, what are you-" _wait,_ Ryuuko scratched her head. If her feeling was true and if it really was that girl who was trailing them earlier...then didn't it mean that she probably knew about them a whole lot more than they were comfortable with? "Shit..." she cursed and sighed again.

"This isn't a good sign. Try to be careful and let me know if she approaches you again."

Ryuuko frowned. "Well, if she's gonna react like Jakuzure then I'm sure as hell we both should stay away from her," the younger girl replied without thinking.

"Nonon is different."

Considering how hard the past two days were on both of them, Ryuuko found this confident answer actually annoying. "How? She can't even be supportive of your own damn choice," she accused, crossing her arms.

Scowling, Satsuki replied, "She's not like that. I'm sure she has a good reason."

"Yea, a stick in her ass. She's just a treacherous bitch-"

A loud slap occurred and Ryuuko immediately understood that she went too far. Putting her palm to her rapidly heating up cheek, she looked up, seeing her sister standing in front of her with an angered expression and one hand still in the air after dealing the hit.

"Don't talk as if you know her," Satsuki seethed. Then, she directed her steps towards the door to their apartment, grabbing her keys along the way, and quickly put on her boots and her coat. Having finished, without so much as even looking at Ryuuko, she left.

The younger girl stared at the closed door for a moment until something had finally clicked in her mind. Hastily, she stood up from her seat and dashed towards the door, storming outside just to catch the sight of the elevator leaving the top floor. She ran towards the call button, smashing it a couple of times with little result.

"Shit..." Ryuuko cursed before turning her head towards the emergency staircase.

She kept running down the stairs as fast as she could, often jumping down a few steps at once.

"Fucking...thirty...floors," she stuttered out before she had finally reached the ground floor. She shoved the door to the main corridor open, gaining a few curious stares from people who were just casually passing by. "Uh, mister," Ryuuko turned to a guard who stood near the entrance door. "Has a girl just left the elevator here? Tall, black hair," she asked, panting heavily and feeling droplets of sweat running down her face.

The man in question raised his brow, looking at her carefully. "Yes, someone like that has just went outside-"

"Thank you!" Ryuuko didn't let him finish, immediately dashing out of the skyscraper.

First thing she felt were multiple, cold droplets of water falling down on her. She looked around, trying to spot her sister in the evening rain and among the passer bys, however, with little to no result.

"God dammit," the girl muttered, still looking around and trying to figure out where Satsuki could go in this situation.

The mall? Not likely. The park? Not after what they had already went through. Maybe she had simply left without destination?

Ryuuko cursed her loose tongue, eventually directing her steps towards the centre of the city.

She kept a quick pace, ignoring the tiredness settling in her legs after her mad dash down the stairs. The rain was bearable, too, although it didn't take long until she finally noticed that she had ran out in nothing but the clothes she wore at home and a pair of thin shoes.

Street after street, she kept walking without so much as pausing, constantly looking around in hope to see that one, familiar figure.

Finally, Ryuuko turned with resignation into one of the multiple alleys and rested her back against the wall of one of the buildings, slowly sliding down. It had been long since it got completely dark. What time was it? For how long had she been searching?

Putting her hand inside her pocket out of habit, the girl cursed under her breath again. "Shit, I forgot my cellphone..." she put her free palm to her forehead before checking her other pocket for keys and, this time, sighing with relief, having found them there. The door to their apartment locked itself automatically which meant that, had she left her keys inside, she'd have to wait for Satsuki to come back to go in.

Still, she was alone in the city and certainly not in the mood for coming back home when her sister wasn't even there. Sighing, Ryuuko stood up, looking around once more. Her eyes stopped at a neon sign, that kept changing its colours, hanging above the door to something that looked like some sort of pub.

Ryuuko shrugged indifferently. What other option did she have, aside from roaming around the streets in the rain? Then, she directed her steps towards the door and firmly pushed it open.

 _ **End of Chapter 4**_

* * *

 **A/N:** Yeah, some difficult topics appeared in this chapter. I think they would eventually surface themselves in Ryuuko and Satsuki's relationship after a while of living together.

From what we've seen in the anime, almost each time Ragyo touched Satsuki she did it in a fairly gentle way. Which, of course, doesn't mean it was any more welcomed. I think the hatred for her mother would also make Satsuki associate this kind of contact with something forced and unpleasant (to her) since it was a part of the abuse of which she was a victim.

Speaking of abuse, I purposely decided to not go into details of what Satsuki had to go through. I think it's a topic wide enough to deserve a separate story. In short, my personal guess is that it was a mix of mental and sexual abuse as Ragyo seemed to be quite fond of these.

By the way, "yoru", in the meaning I intended, means "night/evening" in Japanese.


	5. Out of reach

**A/N:** Oh my, I feel like I just started posting this yesterday and it's been a month already. Time sure flies fast, doesn't it? It's also thanks to you and all the support you gave me during that period. I'm grateful for all of it~

Continuing directly from where the previous chapter left off, this one contains more swearing than usual, just saying. Also, there's a quite obvious cameo here (sorry Mike), fans of yuri should recognize immediately ;) Enjoy.

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 5: Out of reach**_

Opening the door, Ryuuko strolled slowly inside the place that, in fact, turned out to be a pub. The atmosphere inside was nice and not too rowdy. Some customers sitting here and there, dimmed lights and quiet music, and Ryuuko quickly felt her body warming up, as opposed to the outside chillness. Never being in a place like that, and thus not really sure what to do or how to act, she simply strolled towards the counter, sitting on an empty stool in front of it.

"What will it be for you, miss?"

Looking up, Ryuuko saw a girl, not much older than herself, with the sides of her head shaved.

"Uh," Ryuuko stuttered, realizing that she didn't really think of what to get earlier. "I'll have a glass of beer," she said without putting much thought into it. It was a pub after all.

"May I see your ID?"

"Ah...shit," reaching to her back pocket, Ryuuko cursed under her breath after realizing she had left it at home, along with her phone. And money. She was about to cancel her order when a third voice interrupted her.

"I think it's okay, doesn't she look old enough to you?" came suddenly from the sit next to her.

Turning to the side, Ryuuko saw a tall, elegantly dressed woman. However, what stood out the most was her silver hair. Unusually _long_ silver hair tied into a high ponytail.

Noticing Ryuuko's gaze, she smiled mysteriously. "I trust you _are_ over 18," she said calmly before giving the bartender a small wink.

Ryuuko stared at her for a moment before she composed herself, and replied, "Yea, I actually turned 18 this year." She looked back at the counter when she heard a sound of a glass being placed in front of her.

"Here, it's on the house," the bartender informed briefly before moving on to other clients.

"Thanks," Ryuuko turned to the woman next to her before looking at the golden liquid inside the tall glass.

She had done a lot of things in her life but that would be her first time drinking alcohol. A bit hesitantly, Ryuuko smelled her drink briefly before taking a gulp and wincing slightly at its unexpected bitterness. It didn't take long, however, until she felt a warm, and weirdly relaxing feeling emanating from her stomach. Encouraged, she took another gulp, and then one more, noticing that the drink actually began tasting better and better once she got used to it.

With a corner of her eye, Ryuuko glanced at the luxurious, and ridiculously long, silver hair of the woman who had just backed her up, now calmly sipping a drink on her own. If not for the fact she had already felt a bit intoxicated by the alcohol, Ryuuko would probably leave the next question for herself to ponder on.

"Ain't it difficult to take a piss with these?" she asked, pointing at the silvery locks that went way below the woman's waist.

The person in question looked at her, surprised at first, before she chuckled lightly. "You get used to it, believe me."

"Hell, and sometimes I think mine is too long," Ryuuko snickered and shivered slightly, still feeling her cold and wet clothes sticking to her skin.

"Spent a longer while outside?" the woman asked conversationally, briefly eyeing Ryuuko from head to toe.

"How'd you know?"

"Your hair and clothes are dripping wet," she pointed out the obvious. "You went out dressed like that?"

"Oh, yea," Ryuuko answered while going through her messy hair with her hand. "I was...searching for someone. Kinda."

The woman raised her eyebrow. "And you ended up here?"

"Yea," the girl replied indifferently and shrugged before taking another few gulps of her drink. "Couldn't find her so I might as well get wasted instead."

"Mind if I keep you company, then?"

"Sure, whatever," Ryuuko nodded before turning to her new drinking companion. "Ryuuko," she introduced herself, reaching out her hand out of habit she got from Aria.

The woman smiled and shook the hand delicately. "Shizuma."

They sat quietly for a moment while Ryuuko was ordering another glass of beer, having finished her first one eagerly. "There's awfully lot of girls here, don't ya think?" the younger girl picked up eventually, looking around properly for the first time since she had entered.

Shizuma chuckled again. "That's because it's a pub for lesbians."

For a second, Ryuuko shot her an astonished look. "Oh," she answered after a moment, composing herself. "So, ya also swing that way?" she asked casually.

"I do," Shizuma replied calmly. "And you don't really look all too shocked by that," she pointed out.

"That's 'cause I ain't. Single? Taken?" Ryuuko inspected. "Don' get me wrong, I'm just curious."

Shizuma smiled again. "It's fine, I'm taken," she answered, flashing a golden ring that decorated her slender finger before putting some of her stray, silver hair behind her ear. "What about you?"

"Same," Ryuuko replied before adding bitterly, "I guess."

"So, what's your story?" Shizuma asked before taking a small sip of her drink.

Ryuuko snorted and downed half of her glass. "What'd ya mean?"

"I mean that I don't often see a young girl coming here alone to drink herself unconscious without even knowing what kind of place it is."

With a dry laughter, Ryuuko emptied her glass completely. "'s that why y'wanna know?"

"It's not that _I_ want to know," Shizuma replied calmly. "They say it's easier to open up to a stranger and you don't look like you have someone to talk to about it."

 _Right_ , Ryuuko thought bitterly. Her only friend she could tell everything to had died on her a year ago and the only person that she could completely trust was now pissed off at her. "I fuck with my sister," she said indifferently after a moment.

If not for the alcohol hazing her mind then she'd probably care about her choice of words a bit more.

Shizuma raised her foxy eyebrow. "That's-"

"Fucked up, I know," Ryuuko finished with a shrug.

"Not what I meant to say."

"Most people would."

"Most of people are irrelevant," Shizuma interjected calmly. "Are both of you okay with it?"

"Yea, I guess we're what ya could call...lovers," the younger girl replied, concentrating her eyes on her emptied glass. "But I said something real stupid earlier and she got seriously pissed off at me," she finished bitterly before resting her forehead against her hand. "God dammit, I'm such an idiot..."

She felt a gentle pat on her shoulder.

"We all sometimes say words we regret later on."

Ryuuko looked up. "'s that why y're here as well?" she asked before raising her hand heavily to order more beer.

"No, my fiancée is on a trip with her friend," Shizuma answered and finished her own drink. "Hitting the downtown every once in a while is something I like doing." After getting a refill on her own, she turned her front to Ryuuko and crossed her legs, resting her elbow against the counter. "So, what's your sister like? Tell me about her," she spoke kindly.

Ryuuko took another big gulp of her beer. "Fuck, she's damn beautiful," she began, resting her slightly unstable head against her hand again. "And she's always so kind and caring, y'know" she continued, staring at the golden liquid in front of her before turning to Shizuma. "Even tho she teases me so much and treats me like a fuckin' child," she snickered. "Bein' with her is, like, best thing that happened to me, I tell ya that."

"She sounds like a nice person," the older woman replied with a smile. "And you seem to be attached to her deeply, too."

A longer while had passed before Ryuuko comprehended the words said to her. "Fuckin' god knows how much I love 'er," she mumbled, raising her glass to her lips, not without effort. "Y'know, all I wanna do is make her happy. Why the fuck do I have to be such an asshole at times..." she put the glass back with a loud thud.

"What was the fight about?"

Ryuuko sighed at the question. "I talked shit about 'er best friend 'cuz she didn' wanna accept our relationship."

Shizuma gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, if you care about her so much then I'm sure she'll understand why you said it," she spoke, giving the girl another pat on her shoulder.

"Fuck...I hope..." Ryuuko put her hand to her forehead, feeling her head spinning. "I can't fuckin' live without 'er, y'know..." she mumbled, sloping a bit too much to the left.

Seeing that, Shizuma stood up from her seat.

"Oh, goin' already?"

"No," the woman replied. "I'm taking you back home, I think you've had enough for tonight," she said mildly. "Can you stand?"

Groaning, Ryuuko slid off her stool, quickly discovering how difficult it was to keep herself from losing balance. She felt an arm being put around her and, hazily, she began moving along with the person supporting her.

"Charge the usual," Ryuuko heard Shizuma's voice, as if coming from behind a curtain, before something clicked in her mind.

"Waait, I still gotta pay," she stuttered out, trying to contain her tangling tongue and completely ignoring the fact she had no money on her anyway.

"Don't worry about it, I took care of it already," Shizuma replied, keeping the girl from falling while managing their steady pace towards the exit among curious glances coming from other customers.

When they finally stepped outside, Ryuuko took a deep breath, feeling slightly better when cool air, refreshed by the earlier rain that was now gone, hit her face.

"Can you manage to the main road? I have a car waiting for us there."

"Uh, yea, think so," the girl mumbled before Shizuma motioned her to put an arm around her neck for more stability.

Once they began moving again, the woman asked, "You're not really used to alcohol, are you?"

Ryuuko snickered at the question. "'t was my first time drinkin'."

"Then you went a bit overboard," Shizuma chuckled along with her. "You need to be careful," she said with more seriousness. "It's not always safe to go drinking alone."

"What, are ya implyin' y'could go rape me now or somethin'?"

This time, Shizuma didn't laugh. "The streets can be dangerous, I'm saying you could have ended up way worse."

With the last sense of shame, Ryuuko didn't reply after figuring how stupid her last remark was.

It didn't take them long to reach the main road, meanwhile the 'car' Shizuma had mentioned came out to be a luxurious, black limo.

"Damn, y're loaded," Ryuuko commented before getting herself inside and dropping down on the back seat.

With much more dignity, Shizuma entered after Ryuuko, sitting down next to her. "Could you tell me your address? I'll get you back home."

The younger girl pondered for a moment before realizing that she had never actually bothered to check. "Uh, shit..." she put her hand to her hot forehead.

"Okay, then, could you describe the area?" Shizuma asked calmly.

"It's a tall skyscraper," Ryuuko mumbled, resting the back of her head against the headrest. "With a penthouse on top. I think it's called...uh...Golden Rose, or somethin'."

The woman raised her eyebrow curiously again before turning to the driver.

Ryuuko groaned when the limousine began moving. Quickly realizing that closing her eyes was not a good idea, she tried to concentrate her gaze on something that lied still which, in her case, were her hands on her lap, and stayed like that for the rest of the ride.

"Ryuuko."

She slowly raised her head upon being suddenly called out. "Yea?"

"We're here, is this the correct place?" Shizuma asked, moving herself backwards to allow the girl to look through the window.

Ryuuko stared dully at the entrance to her place for a moment before nodding her head absent-mindedly. With a bit of Shizuma's help, she managed to get out of the limo and, despite her tangling legs, eventually reach the elevator inside.

Their ride was quiet again, before Shizuma finally spoke, "You also aren't poor if you can afford a place like this," she noted.

"Sis ain't, it's 'er apartment," Ryuuko replied after sliding down the elevator wall and resting on its floor.

"Listen, Ryuuko," the woman suddenly knelt down in front of her to bring their eyes to an equal level. "If you really love her, be honest with her."

Ryuuko snorted wryly at the word 'honest'. She was no liar but, on the other hand, honesty wasn't something she was good at either.

"Stand up, we're here," Shizuma gave her an encouraging smile before standing up and reaching out her hand. There was a loud beep and the door to the elevator slid open.

Still deeply intoxicated, Ryuuko stared at her for a moment, sitting still. "Why'd ya help me?" she asked.

"Because you needed help," the woman replied gently.

Ryuuko kept gazing at Shizuma for a while longer before smiling delicately on her own. "Thanks," she said before taking the hand and standing up with a bit of help. "I owe ya one."

Shizuma chuckled. "No need," she answered, stopping in front of the door to Ryuuko's apartment. "As long as everything goes well for you. If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me."

"Are ya always in that pub?" Ryuuko asked, searching for the keys.

The woman smiled. "I'm its owner."

Ryuuko looked at her with slightly widened eyes for a moment. "Shit, I keep runnin' into all kinds of weird people," she laughed before clumsily putting the key inside the lock.

The moment she turned it, the door got abruptly opened wide.

"Ryuuko, are you o-" standing in the doorstep, Satsuki paused mid-word upon noticing the silver-haired woman next to her sister. "And you are?" she asked warily.

"Hanazono Shizuma," the woman introduced herself with a slight bow. "I met Ryuuko in a pub."

Ryuuko kept watching the tensed exchange with a somewhat confused expression. "Don' worry, Sats, she helped me get back 'ere."

"I see," Satsuki frowned at Ryuuko's looser-than-usual tone but composed herself immediately. "Thank you for taking care of my sister," she said and bowed on her own.

"It was my pleasure," Shizuma answered with an honest smile. "Well then, I'll excuse myself now," she bowed lightly again to Satsuki and gave Ryuuko a small wave to which the girl replied with a grin and a similar gesture.

When the waves of Shizuma's silver hair had disappeared behind the elevator door, Ryuuko looked reluctantly into Satsuki's eyes who returned the gaze with a serious expression.

"Sis, I..." the younger girl began, suddenly feeling a sting of guilt piercing through her drunken state.

Before she managed to finish, she felt herself being pulled into a fierce hug, arms wrapping around her tightly.

"Do you have any idea how I felt? Coming back home with you being nowhere to be found, not even picking your phone up," Satsuki chided. "And then you show up wasted in the middle of the night."

The worry concealed in her sister's voice hit Ryuuko hard in the guts, filling her with shame and embarrassment at how stupid she could be, all doubled by the alcohol she had drunk.

"I- I'm sorry, sis," Ryuuko stuttered and sobbed, feeling tears gathering in her eyes. "I'm s-so fucking sorry..." she embraced Satsuki, hiding face in the crook of her neck covered by a high collar of the older girl's sweater and wetting it immediately.

She kept crying in her sister's shoulder, feeling a hand gently stroking her head as she kept going on and on, until there was nothing left.

"It's okay, Ryuuko," Satsuki kept whispering, caressing the girl's dishevelled hair. "Everything's okay now."

* * *

To call the next morning a living hell, for Ryuuko, was an understatement. She woke up with a _massive_ hangover, upset stomach, and utter embarrassment caused by the last night's events. _Especially_ by the fact that she broke down right in front of her sister.

"Are you awake? How are you feeling?"

Ryuuko groaned in pain when she heard Satsuki's voice resonating within her head. "Kill me please..." she grumbled and turned to her other side before hiding herself beneath the quilt. She stayed like that until she had decided it wasn't the best position for her stomach which happened, approximately, ten seconds later.

Sitting up, Ryuuko rested her back against the wall behind her before letting out yet another pained groan when her head began pulsing with dull ache after the sudden change of position.

"Shit...can I get some water?" she mumbled, realizing her throat felt dryer than a desert.

When Satsuki had offered her a full glass, she took it with shaky hands and downed at one gulp, feeling her stomach grumbling loudly.

"Hungry?" Satsuki asked, sitting carefully next to her.

Ryuuko noticed that her sibling was already fully clothed. "Uh, not really," she replied, getting nauseous just from thinking about food. _And beer_. "What time is it?"

Satsuki looked calmly at her wristwatch. "1:30," she informed before reaching out to remove some stray hair from her sister's face.

Closing her eyes, Ryuuko enjoyed the gentle caresses that came after. Until her head began spinning again and she had to open her eyes to keep herself from forcefully removing whatever was left in her stomach.

"Fuck," she uttered, resting the back of her head against the wall. "I'm never drinkin' again."

Suppressing her chuckle, Satsuki kept carefully running her fingers through Ryuuko's hair and against her cheeks. "Well, you only have yourself to blame for that," she spoke somewhat teasingly but quietly enough to not add to her sister's headache.

With another groan, the younger girl sighed before grabbing Satsuki's wrist. She gently kissed the palm of her hand and intertwined their fingers, settling for a simple hold. "Sis, we, uh..." she paused, trying to formulate her sentence after remembering the words of the woman from the last night. "We gotta talk," she said eventually, bringing herself to look into the other girl's eyes. "Later," she added when the sudden motion made her head spin again.

"About what?" Satsuki asked calmly, although giving an impression that she knew well what Ryuuko wanted to tell her.

"Last night, everything," Ryuuko mumbled, feeling another surge of embarrassment at the memory of how she went to pieces.

Satsuki nodded her head. "Get some rest for now," she replied and Ryuuko was infinitely grateful to her for letting her keep the bits of her dignity and not teasing her about what happened. "I need to go out for a moment, will you manage by yourself?"

"Yea."

"There's some food left for you on the counter, you should go eat something when you feel you can," Satsuki added, standing up and directing her steps towards the door. "I'll be back soon," she waved to the girl in the bed and left.

Ryuuko waved back weakly before allowing her hand to fall down on the quilt powerlessly.

"Fuckin' hell..." she cursed under her breath and closed her eyes, then one more time remembering that it wasn't a good idea.

In the end, Ryuuko allowed herself to spend fifteen minutes more in bed before clumsily getting up. Or rather, before her grumbling stomach had forced her to get up. Still nauseous, although a bit less, the girl immediately directed her steps towards the kitchen, almost drooling at the sight of the "breakfast" (more of a lunch, considering the time) Satsuki had left her.

Deciding it would be bad if she got sick and wasted the food, Ryuuko started eating slowly, allowing herself to go ahead and devour the rest only after deciding she wouldn't feel worse any more. After getting some hot tea to settle her stomach further, still in her pyjama, she went to the warm living room and dropped down on the sofa, immediately wincing at her suddenly pulsing headache.

Having taken a few sips of her tea, she lied down, basking in the sun shining through the ceiling, and waiting for her sister to come back.

For some reason, Ryuuko felt slightly nervous about the talk that was to come, even though Satsuki didn't seem to be angry at her in the slightest. Was it _really_ because she knew how much Ryuuko cared about her? Perhaps, although the younger girl was leaning more to the option that the image she made last night upon her homecoming was simply a way too miserable one.

It didn't take long before the door to their apartment opened and Satsuki stepped inside, holding a bag of groceries. She waved briefly to Ryuuko, having noticed her resting in the living room, before directing her steps towards the kitchen.

"I see you're feeling better since you ate your food," came after a moment from the wide entrance to the living room.

Ryuuko gulped, before replying, "Uh, yea, though my head still hurts like hell," she tried to chuckle to ease her own tension.

Satsuki stepped closer and knelt down in front of the sofa, putting her hand to Ryuuko's forehead. "At least you didn't catch a cold," she commented softly. "Going out into rain at night in nothing but your home clothes, seriously, what was going through that thick head of yours?"

Averting her eyes, Ryuuko pouted at the all-too-calm scolding she had just received. She'd rather Satsuki to shout at her and offend her instead of showing how worried and disappointed she was. "I...kinda ran after you," the girl spoke finally, meeting her sister's surprised gaze.

"You...did?"

"Uh, I guess you couldn't have known that," Ryuuko put her palm to her own face for a few seconds. Making Satsuki feel guilty was the last thing she wanted to do but, perhaps, it was too late for that now. She sighed and continued, "I went out searching for you. Couldn't find you and I eventually ended up in some sort of pub for lesbians."

Satsuki raised her brow at the last word. "So the woman from last night was also...?"

"Yea."

"Did she do anything to you?"

"Huh? No, uh, I mean, we just talked and when I started losing my shit she took me back here," giving a brief explanation of what happened, Ryuuko couldn't shake off the feeling that Satsuki was actually _jealous_.

The older girl sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "I suppose it's my fault," she spoke eventually, her voice turning more apologetic. "I shouldn't have left like that. I shouldn't have hit you in the first place. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Sats," Ryuuko muttered. "I said too much...you did nothing wrong." _Honest, be honest..._ she chanted to herself in her mind before picking up again. "It just, y'know, pissed me off how Jakuzure talked you down and you still defended her."

"I'm sorry," Satsuki repeated softly, reaching out her hand to touch Ryuuko's cheek she slapped last evening. "I know I reacted too harshly," she grimaced at the memory. "I want to believe that Nonon told me all those things for a reason which I'm yet to find out. I know she wouldn't say all that just because she doesn't approve it."

Ryuuko pondered on her sister's words for a moment. Thinking back, indeed, Jakuzure always cared for Satsuki in Honnouji. "A good reason, huh," she mumbled, still deep in her thoughts.

"Did you say something?"

"Uh, no, nothing," Ryuuko composed herself, looking at her sister again. "So, what do we do now?" she asked, still feeling the girl's palm caressing her cheek.

Continuing her motion, Satsuki replied with a straight face, "Well, I heard that, after having an argument, couples tend to have a great make-up sex."

Catching on what her sister had just implied, Ryuuko's face flushed red. "Damn, you pervert," she retorted, averting her gaze before muttering, "That sounds kinda hot though."

Satsuki grinned as her sister reached out, kissing her on the lips, before she suddenly pulled back herself after merely a second. "You still reek of alcohol," she scowled, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Don't kiss me until your hangover passes."

"Huh? But I'm almost sober already!" Ryuuko frowned.

The older girl just crossed her arms and said, "Consider it a punishment for being so reckless."

* * *

The next few days passed in a rather peaceful way for both Satsuki and Ryuuko. Having made up, pretty much the only thing they had on their heads was the black-haired girl, Yoru, whom Satsuki was carefully keeping an eye on, however, finding nothing extraordinary in her behaviour so far.

Meanwhile Ryuuko had something more that kept bugging her and annoyingly poking the curious and protective part of her that, certainly, did not let her sit still without taking some sort of action.

Which she eventually did.

 _Damn..._ stopping in front of her destination, Ryuuko reluctantly took out her phone, dialing a number. "Hey, Mako, uh, are you sure you gave me the correct address?" she asked, having heard a cheerful 'hi' coming from the other side.

" _Um, what address- oh right, I guess? I mean, Gamagoori-senpai said that's the place, sooo,"_ Mako replied after a second of confusion.

"You still call him 'senpai'?" Ryuuko raised her brow, receiving a chuckle in response.

" _Tehe, he said he likes when I do that."_

A little bit perplexed, Ryuuko replied, "Uh, I see." Then, she shoved a piece of paper with an address scribbled on it into her pocket. "'kay, I just wanted to make sure 'cause...of reasons. Thanks again for doing this for me, Mako."

" _No problem! Have fun at Jakuzure-sama's place,"_ the girl said before they bid to each other a quick goodbye.

"Right," Ryuuko muttered to herself sarcastically, once again looking at an enormous mansion standing far behind a steel gate. "Good thing she ain't living on the other side of the country," she commented to no one in particular.

Except for the fact that Nonon's family also seemed to be awfully rich, it actually surprised her to hear that the girl lived not that far from the city she and Satsuki lived in. One day off from university was enough to have a round trip and, what was actually more important, it was a good way to do it without Satsuki knowing. Not that Ryuuko particularly wanted to hide it from her sister, however, a feeling that she wouldn't be pleased with the idea kept bugging her too much to tell her anything. At least until she actually got any answers.

Stepping closer to something that resembled the door in the gate, Ryuuko finally spotted an entry phone. Not without hesitation, she pressed its button.

 _"Jakuzure residence, how may I help you, miss?"_ a voice of an older man sounded from the speaker after a few seconds.

Surprised, Ryuuko briefly looked around, finally spotting a camera directed right at her. "Uh, can I talk to Jakuzure Nonon?" she asked, somewhat nervously after suddenly realizing that she didn't even know if the girl was home at the moment.

 _"I'm afraid it is not possible right now,"_ the voice replied and Ryuuko immediately slapped her forehead. _"However, if you're willing to wait, she should be back home in no more than 15 minutes, according to my knowledge."_

"Um, yea, I don't mind," relieved, the girl waved her hand nonchalantly but quickly took a step back when the gate in front of her suddenly began opening with a loud creak.

 _"In that case, please come in."_

Tentatively stepping through the gate, Ryuuko directed her steps towards the mansion. Greeted by a butler, and recognizing him as the same man that had just talked to her, she entered inside, looking around curiously. Having gotten used to Satsuki's apartment, the mansion itself wasn't as much of a shock to her any more, although she still had to admit that it looked incredibly impressive, to say the least.

Especially the guest room she got invited to. Sitting in one of the black, leather armchairs, Ryuuko sighed in awe. "Oh, thanks," she said, surprised, after a maid appeared suddenly, placing a small cup of tea on a table in front of her. Taking a sip, the girl raised her eyebrows. "Wow, tastes really good," she said to herself before looking around once more.

She quickly put the cup back when she heard a familiar voice coming from a close part of the mansion.

"No, I'll just have some tea for now- Huh? What the hell are _you_ doing here, dumbass?" Suddenly, Nonon appeared in the doorstep of the guest room, glaring at Ryuuko with a mix of astonishment and annoyance.

"Hello to you, too," Ryuuko replied wryly, force-stopping herself from calling the other girl names at her own place. The fact that they weren't enemies any more didn't mean in the slightest that they would ever become friends.

"Urgh, to hell with pleasantries. What do you want?"

The brunette sighed at the attitude she had just received. "Easy, just wanted to talk," she said, trying to sound as diplomatic as possible.

"Then you better have a good topic of that talk 'cause otherwise I ain't gonna waste my precious time on you," Nonon grimaced before sitting down in another armchair and crossing her arms.

"It's about my sister."

"Satsuki-chan?" Nonon's eyebrow shot upwards. "Go on?"

"Uh, listen, I know she told you that we're, y'know-"

"Screwing like mad rabbits?" Jakuzure interjected. "Yes, she did. And I believe I told her what I think about it."

Ryuuko scowled at the wording, pretty sure that was _not_ what Satsuki had really said over the phone.

"So, what do you want from me now?" Nonon urged.

"I came to ask why."

"Why what?"

"Why the hell you told her all these things," Ryuuko specified, finally letting some of her anger slip.

"Seriously?" Jakuzure let out a grim laughter. "You're asking me why I said that? Do you even have the slightest idea of what you two are getting yourself into?"

Looking at the pink-haired girl in front of her, Ryuuko frowned. "Explain."

"Prejudice, intolerance, discrimination," Nonon began listing in annoyance. "I know Satsuki-chan is strong but she went through enough in her life, I don't want her to suffer any more of that shit."

"What are you aiming at?" Ryuuko replied angrily. "If you're so worried about her, why won't you support her choice?"

Scoffing, Nonon retorted, "You still don't get it, dumbass, do you?" She crossed her legs, her expression turning serious. "It's _because_ I'm worried about her that I can't support her choice. I don't wanna see her hurt and ridiculed because of _you_ ," she scowled. "I tried to tell her but she wouldn't get it. So I made her choose. You or me. Guess I should have seen the results coming," she added, somewhat bitterly.

Clenching her fist, Ryuuko took a deep breath. "Okay," she spoke, trying to remain calm. "Then what the hell do you want me to do so you two can sort your shit out?"

Nonon raised her brow, apparently surprised by the question.

"So?" Ryuuko urged, feeling herself running out of patience.

"Break up with her."

For a brief moment, Ryuuko felt as if something heavy had just appeared in her stomach. "You're joking, right?" she asked, staring at Nonon, ready to burst out with laughter at her _terrible_ sense of humour.

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for jokes, dumbass?" the other girl scoffed grimly before piercing Ryuuko with her gaze. "I mean it. Break up with her."

* * *

Except for the incident in the park, Ryuuko had never lost her temper in the past year as she did now after storming out of the Jakuzure family mansion.

"Break up with her, like hell I would," the girl muttered to herself, quickly pacing with anger towards the nearest bus stop which, annoyingly (or not), was all but near. "Fucking midget," she clenched her fists and kept walking. She felt her foul mood dissipating slightly after she had finally reached her destination, dropping down on a shaded bench and panting heavily.

By the time the bus came, Ryuuko had managed to calm herself down enough to bring her expression back to something resembling neutral. Still, deep down, she felt pissed off at the impudence of Nonon's suggestion.

Sitting inside, she sighed and glared through the window, watching indifferently as the landscape kept changing, finally becoming dominated by concrete when they reached the city. Stepping out of the bus, it didn't take long for her to reach her apartment. Living so close to downtown had a lot of upsides to it.

Coming back home, Ryuuko dropped her bag and, hearing sounds of dinner being made, she immediately directed her steps towards the kitchen. Seeing Satsuki already there and preparing the food, she felt her heart clenching in pain. That was the person she wanted to protect. How could she ever leave her alone?

Simple. She couldn't.

"Welcome home, Ryu-" Satsuki turned around but got immediately cut off when Ryuuko's lips _crashed_ against hers in a lustful, desperate manner. "Wait, wha-" she tried to speak when the girl pulled back, but only for a brief moment, before she got pulled into another fierce kiss. "What happened?" she managed to ask when Ryuuko finally paused to catch her breath. She met her younger sister's hazy eyes, immediately confirming that something was, indeed, wrong.

"Shut up," Ryuuko muttered and kissed Satsuki once again before she hastily began roaming her hands around the girl's body.

Satsuki frowned, at first, but stopped opposing, going with the flow instead, as Ryuuko started stripping her off the clothes and bit one of her breasts with very little delicacy. She wrapped her arms around her younger sister when she suddenly felt herself getting lifted and placed on top of the counter, as Ryuuko's teeth and nails kept travelling south.

"There's no way," the younger girl whispered, more to herself than to anyone else, as she kept going, listening to Satsuki's yelps and moans.

Not very long after that, the two found themselves naked and gently embracing each other while sitting on the nearby chair, with Ryuuko straddling Satsuki's lap.

Caressing her sister's hair, Satsuki asked softly, "Are you feeling better now?"

A few seconds of silence passed. "How do you know I wasn't earlier?" Ryuuko replied eventually, her voice still somewhat grim, as she rested her chin on the other girl's shoulder.

"You are rarely so rough and eager on your own," Satsuki pointed out briefly, receiving a quiet 'sorry' in response. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Biting her lip, the older girl chose her next words carefully. "Are you not comfortable with talking about it?"

"I don't wanna talk about it at all," Ryuuko mumbled with bleak tone. "Sorry," she added again after a while. "I know I'm being selfish."

Satsuki didn't reply. Instead, she kept running her fingers through Ryuuko's hair for long minutes. "I'd love to stay like this longer but you have to get off me if you want to eat anything tonight," she spoke eventually in a slightly teasing way, trying to ease the atmosphere.

To her surprise, Ryuuko simply nodded her head and stood up obediently, turning around to gather her own clothes scattered around the kitchen.

"There's no fucking way," Satsuki heard from the girl, barely a whisper, last thing before Ryuuko directed her steps towards her room, not even bothering to get dressed.

 _ **End of Chapter 5**_

* * *

 **A/N:** Guess life fibers are not immune to alcohol, haha. Neither am I... Good thing I didn't forget to post this today which...kind of could have happened since I have a pretty terrible hangover myself (feel you there, Ryuuko...).

Anyway, I'll see you in the next chap~


	6. For you

**A/N:** I was afraid I wouldn't manage to finish this chapter on time as, along the way, I got hopelessly pulled into an indescribably awesome, emotional roller coaster with lesbian vampires involved, aka "Carmilla" (anyone else waiting for the season 3, by the way? Let's suffer together~). Well, I somehow won the struggle so I guess everything is fine. For now.

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 6: For you**_

" _It'll be a cold day in hell when I break up with her,"_ was what Ryuuko had kept telling herself over and over again in the past few days, ever since she visited Jakuzure.

Until now.

Now, she didn't know what to do any more and, like a bad omen, Nonon's words kept resonating within her mind persistently.

 _What the hell..._ was what Ryuuko kept thinking now as she tried to block the annoying thoughts out of her head. Still, they kept coming back, every single time she looked at Satsuki's still trembling figure. Every time she felt her hand twitch in her own. For all the time they spent in silence just now, both busy with their own trains of thoughts for their own reasons.

"It's not like I ever asked for that," Satsuki whispered suddenly, taking a deep breath. "I had no choice but to endure it..."

Biting her anxiety back, Ryuuko embraced her sister tighter. "I know," she replied quietly, doing her best to hide her grim tone. "I know..."

 _One hour earlier..._

Tapping her food impatiently, Ryuuko crossed her arms and, once again, looked around in search for any sight of Satsuki. A lot of people were walking around, she was in front of her faculty after all, but none of them was whom she was waiting for.

"God dammit, she could have texted me if she was gonna stay longer..." the girl spoke to no one in particular, casting another glance at her phone.

Twenty minutes past their agreed time, she tried calling.

No answer.

Sighing audibly, the girl turned back inside the building. She kept walking through the more and less crowded halls and corridors, constantly looking around.

Until she finally caught a familiar sight with a corner of her eye. Catch was, what she saw was not inside the faculty.

Stepping closer to a window on the first floor, Ryuuko fixed her eyes on Satsuki, or rather her back, who was standing in the university backyard and appeared to be talking with someone weirdly familiar.

She suddenly felt her heart beating faster.

"Shit," Ryuuko cursed, turning around and sprinting back to the main entrance, storming outside and directing straight towards the backyard.

She halted suddenly when she heard someone right behind the corner of the wall.

"Anyway, that's not why I called you here," one of the voices spoke venomously.

"Get to the point then, my sister is waiting for me," Satsuki replied in a cold and collected manner.

"Ah, right, your sister. Well, I guess _that_ is the main point. Are you two, perhaps...trying to hide something?"

"Even if we were, I believe it is not your business to play a detective."

Carefully, Ryuuko peeked from behind the wall, spotting Satsuki standing calmly in front of an angry-looking Yoru.

"You're making me sick," the shorter girl spat and scowled, apparently not aware of Ryuuko's presence. "I saw you. Last week, fourth floor."

"And you're saying that because...?" Satsuki asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Because? Are you an idiot, or something?"

"Last time I checked, we were both adults with free will to do whatever we want."

"Free will? And what are you doing with it? Screwing with your own sister? Just how messed up is that?" Yoru grimaced in disgust.

Satsuki seemed unmoved by the words. She measured her opponent and replied calmly, "No wonder, since you judge everything basing upon your own values. But they do not apply to others. Think whatever you want and don't waste any more of our time," she retorted and was about to turn around when the shorter girl spoke again.

"Think whatever I want? Hahaha," Yoru let out a sinister chuckle. "Well I think you're just fucked up. Did you sleep with your mother, too?"

In a split of second, Satsuki's eyes flashed with rage. Before she managed to reach Yoru, she got quickly caught in a firm hold.

"Sats, no!" Ryuuko shouted, trying to keep the struggling girl in place after jumping from behind the corner in the last moment.

"Let me go!" Satsuki commanded and tried to wrench herself out of her sister's grasp, still having her eyes fixed on the girl in front of her who was now taking careful steps back with fear painting on her face.

"No, you'll just end up getting in trouble," Ryuuko tightened her hold before looking at Yoru. "You," she glared at the girl with malice. "Get lost. You've said enough," she growled.

The shorter girl scowled and bit her lip. Still noticeably shocked and retreating, she turned around and quickly disappeared from the scene.

After shooting her one more scorning glance, Ryuuko turned to her sister who, while ceased her struggles, was still glaring in the direction in which Yoru went. Her face was unreadable, except for her eyes which, for a moment, darkened significantly.

"Since when are you being so reasonable?" Satsuki asked sarcastically before turning around and pacing towards the exit from the university grounds.

Ryuuko followed immediately, finding keeping the girl's quick pace actually difficult. "People kinda change over time, y'know," she replied but received no reaction.

Satsuki was quiet and composed for the whole time, and if not for her fast pace, if Ryuuko didn't know better then she could easily mistake it for her normal behaviour. The situation took a 180 turn the moment they entered their apartment.

"Ryuuko," the older girl spoke, stopping dead in her tracks in the middle of the hall. "Please hold me," she requested, her commanding tone never really disappearing but gaining an unusual, desperate note to it.

Nodding her head, Ryuuko quickly stepped closer in front of her sister and wrapped her arms tightly around her. If not for the body heat, as she noticed immediately, it would probably feel no different from hugging a statue. She glanced at her sibling's face, which still showed absolutely no sign of anything, before she felt Satsuki's body trembling slightly. She tightened her hold, feeling a pair of arms suddenly pressing her painfully close.

She felt a piercing twist in her stomach. Again, she had allowed Satsuki to get hurt. She wanted to be her shield, she could take everything, but she had failed yet again. Ryuuko looked at Satsuki, whose body was still trembling in her arms, and bit her lip. What would it take to finally allow her sister to live a peaceful life...?

" _Break up with her,"_ Nonon's voice sounded suddenly in her head.

 _Fuck you..._ shutting her eyes tightly, Ryuuko tried to shut out the annoying memory. That was far from the way she wanted to go. Like a completely opposite direction.

She tried to concentrate on Satsuki's warmth and making her feel better, that was most important. Still, the irritating thought never really left her.

"It's not like I ever asked for that," eventually, a quiet whisper came from above. "I had no choice but to endure it..."

Wincing at how tight the embrace around her was at that point, and the bitterness in Satsuki's voice, Ryuuko began running her hand up and down her sister's back. "I know," she replied. "I know..."

It took long minutes before they let each other out of their holds. Wordlessly, Satsuki took her coat and boots off and went to the kitchen.

"Hey, Sats, where are you going?" Ryuuko called out after her, watching as her sister mechanically began taking vegetables out of the fridge.

"To make dinner, obviously," Satsuki replied indifferently without so much as turning around.

Scratching her head, Ryuuko followed the girl, stopping her hand that reached out for a knife. "It's fine, I'll go get us something," she said, looking into her sibling's eyes. "Go rest, you need it."

"I'm okay."

Tightening slightly her grasp on Satsuki's forearm, the younger girl rubbed the tensed muscles with her thumb. "Right," she answered calmly. "Sats, you ain't fooling anyone."

They stared at each other for a longer while before Satsuki eventually closed her eyes, letting out a barely audible sigh. "Sorry," she spoke collectedly before turning to the counter and picking the food up to put it back to the fridge. "I need to be alone for a moment," she said when she finished, facing her sister again.

"Sure," Ryuuko replied, putting her hands in her pockets. "Take your time, I'm gonna get us something to eat in the meanwhile."

Taking a ride down in the elevator had never been so quiet. Finally arriving to the ground floor, Ryuuko immediately walked out of the building and briefly looked around. _God I'm not even hungry,_ she complained mentally, searching for any sort of food except for ever-present ice cream. Stopping her eyes on a Chinese restaurant, she shrugged and paced quickly towards it.

Soon enough, she found herself back inside the Golden Rose, along with a bag full of steaming-hot food.

"Um, excuse me, miss," she heard almost right after she stepped inside. "Are you, perhaps, Matoi Ryuuko-san?"

Looking at the guard who was, apparently, addressing to her, the girl nodded her head. "Yea, that's me. Something happened?"

"Ah, no," the man replied, reaching out his hand and holding a letter. "I was asked to deliver this to you when you come back, it's apparently something very urgent."

"Huh?" Staring at the black envelope in the guard's hand, Ryuuko frowned and took the letter. "Uh, who asked you to give it to me, mister?" she asked, carefully watching the plain paper surface from all sides.

"A girl about your age, short, black hair."

 _Her again..._ "Shit," Ryuuko cursed under her breath. Briefly thanking the guard, she quickly stepped into the elevator and hesitantly began opening the envelope, something telling her that she certainly did not want to know what was inside.

The content turned out to be a plain, computer-written letter.

 _Dear Matoi-san,_

 _Just kidding, there's no need for pleasantries so I'll cut to the point. Since your sister is apparently too stupid to understand, I'm hoping that maybe you have some more...morality preserved._

Forcing herself to not rip the paper into pieces after reading only the first two sentences, Ryuuko gritted her teeth and kept on reading.

 _Since you probably heard my little conversation with Kiryuuin-san earlier today, I don't think I have to explain how much it disgusts me that people like you two actually exist. But here I'm offering you a chance to redeem yourself and get back on the right path. You see, I happen to know that your sister is trying to become a company leader._

Not even noticing that the elevator had reached the top floor a long time ago, Ryuuko kept reading the letter, feeling every piece of herself beginning to burn with anger.

 _Stay away from her, and I'll consider trying to not 'accidentally' tell my friends, and some other people I know, about your filthy, little secret. I'm imagining that you're probably angry beyond describing while reading this so let me tell you something and give you an advice as a sign of my good will. You may try hurting me, calling the police, or whatever you want, but remember; once the truth is out, there's no turning back. If I were you, I'd be careful with my actions._

 _I'm leaving you a phone number. I'll be waiting for your call with an update until tomorrow evening before I get more...talkative._

A drop of blood fell down on the last word of the letter that was left unsigned. Realizing that she was biting into her lip way too hard, Ryuuko kept staring at the piece of paper. "Blackmailing piece of shit," she seethed and finally stepped out of the elevator, resting her back against the wall and once more skimming through the text.

" _Prejudice, intolerance, discrimination,"_ Nonon's words once again found a way to resurface in the least plausible moment.

"Fuck," Ryuuko cursed, crumbling the letter and hitting the wall behind her. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" she clenched her already hurting fist.

Breathing in deeply, she tried to calm herself down, even if only a little. She had to go inside now and face Satsuki. And, at the moment, she _really_ didn't want to face Satsuki. Because her sister would know immediately that something was wrong again and Ryuuko knew she wouldn't be able to conceal it this time. Just like she knew what Satsuki's reaction would be.

Sacrificing everything she had continuously worked on to preserve their relationship.

Sighing, Ryuuko reluctantly opened the door to the apartment, shoving the crumbled envelope and the letter inside her jeans pocket. Not finding Satsuki in the living room, she put the food on the kitchen table and directed her steps to the bedroom.

To her relief, she found her sister fast asleep. At least she had some time to calm down and sort everything out.

For how long?

She didn't know.

* * *

The next day, Ryuuko found herself being unable to look Satsuki in the eye. Not particularly because of what happened yesterday but because it was _her own fault_ that it happened in the first place. If only she had listened to her sister back then...

She knew right away that Satsuki was not fine from the moment they woke up. The cold, indifferent look on her face was almost unbearable to Ryuuko while the memory of that damn letter from yesterday kept twisting her insides. And yet she still tried to do the only thing she could do at that time. She just held her sister, like the day before, until the older girl had to finally get up and get ready for university.

Satsuki might have allowed Ryuuko to peek inside and see her weaknesses but she refused to show them to others.

To her own discontentment, Ryuuko found out that she actually felt relieved after Satsuki had left the apartment, along with the feeling of guilt that would strike the younger girl each time she looked at her sister's face.

Ironically enough, the less guilty she felt about what happened, the more guilty she felt about not actually feeling guilty. Talk about being in a vicious circle. It felt like fate had put her inside some sort of hamster wheel and she just kept running in it like a caged rat, with no means of escaping.

"This is fucked up..." Ryuuko muttered to herself, staring at nothing in particular and mindlessly munching on her breakfast, mostly out of habit than out of hunger.

Why did it always have to be Satsuki to take the biggest hit? Why couldn't it be herself? She would be more than glad to get hurt if it meant saving her sister any more pain. But, as if someone had decided to play an awful joke on her, everything just kept backfiring.

And now she also had to deal with someone who, apparently, hated their relationship to the point of going to some unbelievable extremes just to make sure they wouldn't be together any more.

 _"Pigs in human clothing,"_ Ryuuko suddenly recalled her sister's words from over a year ago. Sighing loudly, she muttered to herself, "Guess she was right after all. Some people are shit."

A loud crack made Ryuuko snap out of her internal monologue while sharp, stinging pain got her to look at her hand which now held two chopsticks broken in half, along with all the splinters that were buried in her skin. Calmly pulling the little pieces of wood out of her palm, the girl sighed to herself again.

It wasn't going to be an easy day. Not this one and, most probably, not any of the near future ones, she concluded as she began preparing to go out on her own.

The lectures felt long and suffocating. During the lunch break, Ryuuko really wanted to be left alone but it seemed that even something as simple as that wasn't for her to decide.

"Ryuuko-san!"

Her eyebrow twitching with slight irritation, Ryuuko turned around upon hearing a familiar voice which, for an actual change, did not sound cheerful at all. She looked at Aria pacing towards her with a serious, and somewhat shocked expression on her face.

"Ryuuko-san, um, I need to ask you something," the blonde stuttered and the younger girl could immediately tell that she was, for some reason, really nervous.

"Hurry it up, I wanna go somewhere," Ryuuko replied with irritation.

Fidgeting slightly, Aria finally uttered, "Is that...true that you're dating your sister?"

"...So you know, huh?" the other girl deadpanned.

"Yoru-chan...did mention something like that yesterday but..." the blonde paused, averting her eyes. "I didn't believe her."

"Well then, you better do 'cause for once she's tellin' the truth," Ryuuko responded indifferently. She watched as Aria's expression started bearing traces of a deeper shock. "Gonna insult and blackmail us about it like she did?" she asked confrontationally after a long moment of silence. "Go ahead, I don't care, but don't you dare to come closer to my sister," she threatened before turning her back to the perplexed, and stunned blonde and walking off.

Ryuuko didn't even care about her destination. She just wanted to go somewhere where no one would bother her. Leaving the faculty to avoid accidentally meeting Satsuki or, worse, Yoru, she started wandering around the city with no particular direction.

So Aria knew and, judging from her reaction, or rather lack thereof, she wasn't pleased with the news. What worse could happen? She would tell her own friends about it, too? And Yoru would start babbling around until the whole university got to know that she, Matoi Ryuuko, was dating her own sister?

She couldn't care less if people knew and insulted her. No, there was something, or someone else Ryuuko was concerned about and that feeling was slowly, and painfully, eating her from the inside. And that was the thought of no one other than Satsuki. While Ryuuko didn't care about herself, the image of her sister from yesterday, and a vision of all of her plans being ruined, was mercilessly haunting her.

Clenching her fists at Yoru's threat and Jakuzure's words that, yet again, echoed loudly in her head, Ryuuko gritted her teeth and kept walking. She couldn't leave Satsuki alone, she just couldn't...

But what if...

What if there was no other way?

After all, the only thing Ryuuko desired was making her sister happy. Was that really what she was doing?

What about all of the bad things she had brought upon her?

Satsuki losing her best friend over their relationship. Satsuki getting hurt because of their relationship. Satsuki's hard work about going to waste because of their relationship. Satsuki not being able to make up for the normal youth she had lost, again, because of their relationship.

"Fucking...hell!" Ryuuko shouted, hitting the nearby wall she was just passing by with a loud crack to it. Ignoring the shocked stares and gasps from the pedestrians, she just kept moving. She didn't care about that. Not when she was about to go crazy.

Cracking her fingers back into place, she walked on.

If only she could talk to someone...ask someone what to do with everything...there were so many people with more experience out there but, ironically, she knew none of them. Then, there was another issue. Who was going to help an immature lesbian in an incestuous relationship? Calling the police was not an option, either, since that would guarantee her having to spill the beans. Which was exactly what she wanted to avoid.

Ryuuko actually gasped loudly when she realized that, in fact, there _was_ someone who maybe could help her.

She looked around briefly.

It would take her a while to get there, and she would surely miss her next class, but if it was going to possibly give her any sort of advice other than breaking up with Satsuki...it was worth it, wasn't it?

Getting into the first bus that could take her to her destination, Ryuuko thought of a certain silver-haired woman that had helped her not so long ago, along with her invitation to come and talk whenever she needed help.

About a half an hour later, a little nervously, Ryuuko pushed the already familiar door to the pub.

Stepping inside, she looked around the darkened place with the same, soft music playing from the speakers and little to none occupants during daytime, save for an _incredibly_ long-haired blonde and a brunette with a strangely lopsided ponytail kissing passionately in one of the corners.

Touching her own, relatively short hair self-consciously, Ryuuko directed her steps towards the counter, spotting the same bartender that had served her the last time, now casually cleaning a couple of glasses.

"What would it be for you, miss?" the woman asked mechanically without lifting her gaze. Only when Ryuuko came closer did she look at her, raising her eyebrow in surprise.

"Um, I'm looking for that silver-haired chick from back then," Ryuuko replied, noticing that the bartender had actually recognized her.

Going back to cleaning, the woman asked calmly, "What business do you have with my boss?"

"I just wanna talk to her," Ryuuko answered and, realizing that it probably sounded either strange or suspicious, she added, "Last time she, uh, offered to help me with something if I needed and...I'm kinda in need right now."

"Sorry to say so but boss is on a business trip abroad at the moment."

"...Oh," the girl sighed quietly in disappointment. "So, uh, when is she gonna be back?"

"Next month, as far as I know."

Which meant in roughly two weeks.

"Shit..." Ryuuko cursed. "Never mind then. Thanks," she threw before walking towards the exit, once again casting a glance at the couple in the corner, still busy with themselves, and sighing once again to herself. If only she and Satsuki could be so careless...

Leaving the pub, Ryuuko didn't feel like going back to university any more. Then again, going back home wasn't an appealing option either, especially since her sister was probably back by that time.

For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to face her. The guilty feeling kept twisting and wrenching her guts each time, knowing that she could be the very cause for a massive failure that Satsuki would surely suffer if they were going to stay together.

But what other options did she have? It surely felt like fate was repeatedly denying her any solution other than leaving her sister.

Ryuuko sighed when, rousing herself from her thoughts, she found herself in front of the Golden Rose anyway. In defeat, she pushed the luxurious front door open and directed her steps towards the elevator.

The ride was long. Considering that she didn't know what awaited her at the end of it, it was painfully long. Finally, the door slid open and she stepped outside, then opened the door to the apartment.

Entering inside, it appeared as if Satsuki was still out.

Ryuuko closed the door and went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water before downing it in a few gulps. Then, she walked towards the living room, intending to try and think, yet again, about some sort of solution that didn't include ending her relationship.

She halted midway to the sofa, noticing that it already had its occupant.

Satsuki was sleeping soundly with her head resting on one of the pillows, still in her coat and a formal, university attire.

Feeling her expression milden at the sight, Ryuuko carefully stepped closer and, taking a thin blanket, she covered her sister before kneeling in front of her and looking at her face.

Satsuki appeared peaceful, maybe a bit tired but, nevertheless, peaceful. That was the sight Ryuuko wanted to protect. Something she, ironically, seemed to be unable to do.

Gently, the girl removed a stray hair from her sister's closed eyes. The decision finally born inside her felt almost dream-like.

* * *

It took hours until Satsuki finally woke up. She opened her eyes, seeing Ryuuko kneeling down in front of the sofa and slowly stroking her hair. Reaching out, she grasped her younger sister's hand, holding it close to her face and kissing tenderly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Sis, we gotta talk."

Frowning briefly at Ryuuko's grim tone, Satsuki sat up, the blanket on her sliding down on the sofa. "What is it?" she asked softly, taking the girl's hand in both of hers and trying to ease her nervousness. She raised her eyebrows in surprise when the hand slid out and Ryuuko actually took a step back.

"I...uh..." Ryuuko stuttered, her gaze landing on everything but Satsuki. Finally, she clenched her fists and uttered, "We can't be together any more."

Silence fell afterwards. Thick and suffocating.

Satsuki's eyes widened for a moment, suddenly feeling the strength she had managed to regain leaving her body again. "...Why?" she managed through her tightening throat, staring at her sister in disbelief.

Ryuuko averted her eyes and bit her lip. "...'cause I keep bringing you pain," she replied. "I make you look like some sort of idiot, I keep jeopardizing everything you managed to create because of some twisted feelings and desires I have towards you."

"So do I," Satsuki spoke quietly, watching as her sister was becoming more and more agitated. "If your feelings and desires are twisted then so are mine. But that never stopped me from loving you."

"You don't get it, Sats," Ryuuko interjected, closing her eyes. "Everything is shit," she continued bitterly. "I tried to protect you, I tried to give you a peaceful life, and look where it brought us to," she seethed. "What's gonna be next? You losing all progress you made with your company? Getting labelled a fucked up deviant with no way to live normally again?" standing up, the girl clenched her fists painfully. "Fuck if I allow that," she uttered through her gritted teeth.

Feeling her voice getting stuck, Satsuki uttered finally, "What are you going to do?" she asked, her tone only barely resembling her usual, composed one.

"I'm leaving."

If what Ryuuko said already was a shock to Satsuki then these words felt like a stab to her heart.

"You need someone who will actually make you happy, not bring more problems upon you," Ryuuko stuttered out, trying to contain her noticeably shaking body. Then, she quickly paced towards the front door.

"Ryuuko!" Satsuki shouted and, gathering all of her strength, ran after her sister but the younger girl was faster. The door shut before Satsuki managed to reach it and she only heard a loud sound of locking up. She turned her head towards the living room to get her keys but, to her shock, they were nowhere to be seen. "Open the door!" she shouted again, and hit the wood in front of her, gritting her teeth.

"I'm sorry, Sats, I...I'll send someone to give you back your keys tomorrow," a muffled voice of her sister came suddenly from the other side. "I dunno if I can stick to my word if I stay here so...I'll try to find some other place to stay at for a while."

Satsuki's eyes widened. She rested her forehead helplessly against the door, scratching it with her nails as if hoping to somehow reach her sister. "Ryuuko...you already are the person I need..." she whispered, slowly sliding down to the floor.

On the other side, Ryuuko sighed heavily, looking bitterly at the two pairs of keys in her hand.

She'd done it.

She couldn't believe it herself but, in the end, she had really done it.

She was about to leave when a sudden series of muffled sounds coming from behind the door stopped her. Ryuuko halted mid-step and turned around, touching the door in disbelief.

Satsuki was crying. The strong Satsuki who never faltered and always endured everything was now _crying_.

Biting her lip until she felt blood dripping down her jaw, Ryuuko rested her back against the door, listening to the muffled sobs coming from the other side. The sound was maddening but, perhaps, it was the punishment she had to suffer for prolonging her decision so much. For ever admitting her feelings and giving this relationship a chance to start.

 _It's for the better, it's for the better, it's..._ she kept repeating in her mind but now she didn't even believe it herself. She wanted to open the door and hold her sister. She badly wanted to tell her that she changed her mind, that what she said was a lie, that she was not going anywhere. But, for Satsuki's sake...she couldn't. Not if she didn't want to see any more of their lives crumbling to dust.

She left when the sounds of crying died down. Finding the need to somehow work out all the negativity built inside, she took the stairs, feeling her heart getting heavier and heavier with every step she made anyway. Eventually, she started running, jumping a few stairs at the time just to get out of the suffocating staircase as soon as possible.

When she barged outside the luxury skyscraper, she ran in a random direction as fast as she could.

She stopped only when her body began giving up and dropped down on the nearest bench. She looked around.

It was just a regular evening with people rushing here and there, street lights emphasizing every silhouette that passed her by.

With shaky hand, Ryuuko pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled a number she found yesterday in the letter.

" _Who is this?"_ an obnoxious voice sounded from the speaker.

"I did it," Ryuuko replied with anger. "You got what you wanted, now leave my sister alone."

" _Oh, it's you, Matoi-san. And you did what exactly?"_

Ryuuko clenched her teeth, painfully biting her lip again, and swallowed thickly. "I broke up with Satsuki," she uttered and, not waiting for Yoru to answer, she ended the call.

If what she felt earlier was pain, then she had no idea how to describe the torturous feeling that began settling in her heart. All she felt were her insides burning and a huge pile stuck in her throat that made her want to throw up.

Shivering at a sudden gust of chilly, evening wind, Ryuuko hugged herself and looked down at the ground. As surreal as it seemed, she could swear that, right now, she was in hell. And it had just began to freeze over.

 _ **End of Chapter 6**_

* * *

 **A/N:** The story is still not over so stay with me. The next chapter comes, as usual, on next Sunday.

Also, there was another cameo in this chapter, this time a very little and insignificant one. Well, virtual cookies for the right guesses.


	7. Choices

**A/N:** So far, it's the shortest chapter in this story, and probably the most difficult one for me to write in general. Like, ever. Well, it's quality over quantity so please forgive me the length. I hope that you'll enjoy the content.

* * *

 _ **~Where Did You Put My Keys?~**_

 _ **By: Caelion**_

 _ **Chapter 7: Choices**_

The first thing Satsuki noticed after waking up was how cold and uncomfortable the floor was. Looking around and slowly coming to senses, she sat up and rested her back against the door to her own apartment which, ironically, she was currently trapped in. By her own sister who, out of the blue, decided to leave her alone and break any sort of connection they had managed to build over a year and then two months of living together.

Satsuki bit her lip at the memory, all too bitter to swallow whole and just deal with it like she did with everything else.

No, that felt different. Like someone stabbed her multiple times and each time forgot to take the knife out. And now these sharp pieces lingered inside her, hurting her over and over again with every move she made.

She sighed and closed her eyes, shielding them from sunlight that suddenly came from behind the clouds. When exactly did she fall asleep on the floor? For how long did she sleep? For sure, it was already morning. Next thing was her cold and sore body which made her remember just how comfortable sleeping in her own bed was.

Then again, all of that didn't matter. Everything in general seemed to lose its importance when faced with the fact that she, Kiryuuin Satsuki, had just lost the only person that she cherished and found worth living for.

Biting back another surge of pain that came along with the thought, Satsuki rested the back of her head against the door and took a breath.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breath in, breath out. Just like she did each time she tried to deal with something painful.

Still, this time the pain seemed to be on an entirely different level. One that was yet unknown to her. And then, along with the memories from the day before, there were also her doubts and regrets.

Did all of that happen because of that incident from two days earlier? Was it because she lost control over herself? She was stupid for lashing out like that and letting her anger overcome her. That girl probably didn't even know what she was saying, she should have just let it go and ignore her.

Instead, she let that ignorant comment get to her, making Ryuuko worry along the way. Safe to say, Satsuki concluded, it was probably all her own fault and carelessness. Being the older sister, she should have been the wiser and the stronger one. And yet she ended up being dependent on her sibling, deep down hoping that the younger girl would come to her aid even when she was seemingly dealing with everything alone. Suddenly, it was no wonder to her that her sister began worrying about her too much. Still...she wished Ryuuko talked to her about that earlier...

Satsuki jumped in her seat when a doorbell rang abruptly above her and she heard a sound of a key being inserted inside the lock.

Her heartbeat sped up. _Ryuuko_ , was the first thought that flashed through her mind and, after standing up hastily, she grabbed the handle and turned it the moment the door was unlocked.

Only to see someone completely else standing in front of her.

"Nonon?" Satsuki asked in disbelief, watching her childhood friend playing with a set of keys. _Her own keys_. She frowned, following the girl with her eyes.

"Morning, Satsuki-chan," Nonon replied briefly before stepping inside the apartment and casually taking her jacket and her boots off. "Matoi called me yesterday and asked for a favour," she answered an unasked question with emotionless tone before placing Satsuki's keys on a small table in the hall.

"I...see," the taller girl closed the door and turned back to look at Nonon who just waltzed into the kitchen and began making tea.

"Have you had breakfast already?"

"I don't feel hungry," Satsuki retorted indifferently.

"Want some tea, then? You look like you spent the night on the floor," Nonon said, somewhat jokingly, and glanced at her friend, noticing her usually unreadable expression which, this time, seemed to be saying 'I kind of did'. She sighed quietly to herself before facing Satsuki properly and resting against the counter. "How are you dealing with this, Satsuki-chan?"

"I'm not."

Nonon tilted her head.

"What do you expect me to say?" Satsuki asked with her voice uncharacteristically soft, sitting at the table and crossing her arms while staring wistfully into the ground. "I just lost my sister, my friend, and my lover. _How_ am I supposed to even start dealing with this?"

"I'm sorry, Satsuki-chan. But, believe me, it's for the better-"

" _Which_ part of it is for the better?!" the brunette snapped suddenly. "Both of us going against our feelings? Giving up our plans and dreams?" she continued in a slightly milder way.

A thick silence fell afterwards during which Nonon kept uncomfortably scratching against the floor with her foot.

After a moment, Satsuki spoke calmly, "When you finally fulfil something you've been planning to do for your whole life, when it was the only thing that kept you going, you really need something to cling to afterwards. A reason to keep on living and fill that empty space. And I've just lost mine."

Silence fell again.

"...I really didn't think she would actually do it," Nonon picked up suddenly after another few, long minutes.

Satsuki looked up, staring at her friend with a piercing gaze. "You talked to her before that happened?" she asked, her tone hinting at her disbelief.

"Sorta," the shorter girl replied, crossing her arms. "She came to me on her own."

"What did you tell her?"

Wincing at the sharp edge in Satsuki's voice, Nonon replied, "Same thing as I told you. But she was so fixated on staying with you that I was sure she didn't give a shit about what I said anyway," she shrugged. They stayed quiet for a while again. "I'm sorry, Satsuki-chan."

Not responding to that any more, Satsuki simply kept sitting on the chair with her head down.

Finishing making the tea, Nonon carefully placed one cup on the table in front of Satsuki. Reluctantly, she reached out her hand but stopped just before she touched the girl's shoulder.

"Get away from me," Satsuki whispered.

Clenching her still outstretched hand, Nonon began, "Satsuki-chan-"

"I said get away. I want to be alone."

Finally retreating, the shorter girl took her own cup. "I'll be around, if you need me."

"I'm fine, you don't have to."

Sighing quietly, Nonon didn't reply and, instead, directed her steps further into the apartment.

* * *

A train arrived along with the first rays of morning sunshine. A dawn of a new day which Ryuuko was certainly not looking forward to. Just like any of the days that still were to come. She didn't even know how she managed to survive the long, night ride with all her thoughts and regrets that kept painfully piling up.

Standing up with a groan, Ryuuko directed her steps right towards the exit. Not having to worry about her luggage, when she didn't have one, was quite convenient, and she didn't really care about how she was going to solve the problem of not having almost any of her things with her.

"Hey, Mako," she waved to her friend, having left her train. "Long time no see," she tried to smile which ended up as a weird, bitter-sweet grimace. "Sorry for dragging you here first thing in the morning."

"That's alright, Ryuuko-chan," Mako replied mildly and pulled her friend into a hug. "I got really happy when you asked if you can come over but I guess it's not that nice since you argued with Satsuki-sama," she said, her voice getting a bit distant with the last few words.

 _Indeed_ , Ryuuko thought. She hadn't told the girl everything yet. She was going to, just not over the phone, and probably not until she was ready to, so, for now, she had settled for an easier to explain version that she and Satsuki had a serious argument. That, and she also needed a place to stay for a little bit, since she didn't want to bother her folks.

And so, having no other option, at least until the university could provide her a dorm room, she was temporarily back to Kanagawa. Not even sure if there still was a point in keeping on studying her course any more when things took such an unexpected turn.

Being uncharacteristically quiet, as they were walking towards a bus stop, Mako hugged Ryuuko's arm. Ryuuko only raised her eyebrow, glancing at her friend. It'd been only two months without seeing each other and she could tell the difference in their behaviour already. _People change so fast,_ she mused as they kept walking in silence.

"So, Mako, how is it going with Gamagoori?" Ryuuko eventually picked up, trying to distract herself from a heavy feeling in her heart that had never really disappeared since the last evening. Not during the hours she spent at the train station, nor during the long ride by a night train.

"Ehehe, he's such a cool guy you wouldn't believe it, Ryuuko-chan," the shorter girl chirped.

Ryuuko smiled to herself softly. Things seemed to be going well for Mako at least. She didn't like that feeling but she couldn't really help it either. The carefree way her friend acted and talked, confronted with her own gloom and bitterness, made her feel plainly jealous. Although, she would probably never admit that to anyone but herself.

A quick ride by bus later, they stepped inside the student dorms of one of Kanagawa universities.

"This is my room," Mako opened a door after a short walk through a quiet corridor of the dorm. "They had only single rooms available so it's a little bit small, but-"

"It's just fine, Mako," Ryuuko interjected softly, patting the girl's head and looking around the, indeed, really small but cosy room. "Are you sure it's actually okay for me to stay here?"

"Of course, I'm so happy we're going to live together again, even for if it's just a while!"

"No, not that," Ryuuko corrected. "I mean the dorm rules. Like, am I _allowed_ to stay here? I don't wanna get you into trouble."

"Um..." Mako paused, putting her finger to her chin, before shrugging indifferently. "Dunno."

"What?"

"I dunno," she repeated. "But when Gamagoori-senpai comes over he just looks at the lady in the main hall and she never comes to complain, so I guess it's fine."

"Uh," Ryuuko scratched her head uncomfortably, realizing that it was probably all _but_ fine. Only Gamagoori Ira was way too intimidating to point that out, as opposed to herself.

"I'm gonna go buy something for breakfast," Mako picked up suddenly.

"Oh, cool. I'll go with you."

"No no no no no no, Ryuuko-chan, you have to rest!" the girl shook her head in an overenthusiastic way while crossing her arms. "I'm sure you had a tiring trip so just lay down and lemme take care of everything."

Well, she couldn't really deny the 'tiring' part. Nodding her head obediently, Ryuuko looked around, eventually sitting down on the floor. "Got any spare pillow?" she asked, yawning at the mention of tiredness.

"Eh? Oh, just take my bed."

"No way, I couldn't-"

"Don't worry, just do it," Mako cut her off before grabbing an empty bag and heading towards the door. "I'll be right back," she waved briefly before leaving.

A few seconds later, Ryuuko sighed loudly to herself. Wanting or not, it was going to be a tiring day so maybe Mako was right and she should just take her chances. Slipping out of her shoes, the girl lied down on the bed and put her hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling.

Suddenly, everything fell on her once again and she groaned loudly, closing her eyes in pain. Still, the built-up tiredness won and soon enough she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Entering the room that, until yesterday, belonged to Ryuuko, Nonon yawned and dropped down on the sofa. Swiftly sweeping the content of the table in front of her off to the floor, she immediately rested her feet on it, sipping her hot tea in silence.

"I swear, Satsuki-chan is such a sap at times, falling for a messy dumbass like that of all people," she grumbled to herself, staring at the rubbish that was now scattered on the floor. A bunch of packages and foil papers, some pencils, and a few sheets of ripped paper.

The whole room in itself was full of things like that. It almost seemed as if Ryuuko was not planning her already sudden departure at all.

Noticeably bored, Nonon got up and strolled around the room. She peeked inside the wardrobe that was still full of clothes. She frowned when she noticed some unfinished university assignments lying on the desk.

"Gosh, she really left Satsuki-chan with cleaning all of this," she muttered in annoyance and started picking the rubbish up from all over the room and consistently throwing it into a small bin under the desk. She was never really the one for cleaning after herself and, if not for a legion of maids her family hired, her room would probably be no different. Then again, she just couldn't turn a blind eye on that and basically make Satsuki take care of it. Not when her friend was in an already miserable state.

She kept going like that until something different than the rest of the trash caught her eye. Namely, a crumbled, black envelope. She frowned, at first, and then shrugged, picking it up. Not that anyone would care if she took a look at whatever was inside anyway, right? Unfolding the paper and taking its content out, she began reading.

 _Dear Matoi-san,_

 _Just kidding, there's no need for pleasantries so I'll cut to the point._

"What the hell," she mumbled after skimming through the first few sentences but, nevertheless, she kept reading on until she reached the very end of the letter. Inhaling the air sharply, she raised her eyebrows. "That explains a whole damn lot," she spoke to no one in particular.

* * *

It was way past ten o'clock already when Ryuuko opened her eyes, one more time finding herself staring at the ceiling. The room was already empty as, after eating breakfast and chatting together for a while, Mako had to attend her own classes and, having no other option left, Ryuuko decided to stay at the dorm and try to get some more sleep.

She almost jumped in the bed when her phone suddenly began ringing. She looked at the display and frowned.

" _Incoming call from: Unknown Number:"_ read the sign in the middle of it.

 _Screw it,_ she thought, closing her phone and putting it back away, ignoring the feeling that the number seemed weirdly familiar. Let it ring. She wasn't in the mood for talking to anyone, stranger or not.

It didn't take long, however, before the phone started ringing again.

Seeing the same number calling, Ryuuko growled and, this time, rejected the call. She didn't even manage to let the device out of her hand when she felt it vibrating furiously once more.

With annoyance, she picked up. "What the hell-" she began but got unceremoniously interrupted.

" _Fucking finally,"_ she heard, first thing, said by an annoyingly familiar, obnoxious voice.

"Jakuzure?" Ryuuko raised her eyebrows in surprise before scowling after she properly processed that information. Right. She had just called her yesterday. She should have remembered the number. "What, are you so eager to make fun of me that you just kept calling?" she asked angrily, expecting a series of 'good choice, dumbass'-kind of "praises".

" _No, it's not that,"_ Nonon answered briefly.

Somewhat surprised by the unusual lack of venom, yet still not in the mood to talk, Ryuuko replied, "Then what is it? I'm kinda busy right now," she lied, resisting the urge to slam her phone shut again.

A low grumble came from the speaker. _"I was wrong. Wherever you are right now, you gotta come back."_

Blinking a couple of times, Ryuuko put her finger into her ear and twisted it a couple of times to ensure nothing was wrong with her hearing. "Say what?"

She heard an obnoxious sigh coming from the other side. _"Look, dumbass, I have no time for games right now. I said I was wrong and that you have to come back **right now**!"_ Nonon spoke strangely quiet but with audible irritation in her voice.

"I can't."

" _What the hell? What do you mean by 'I can't', idiot?"_

Ryuuko frowned and shifted uncomfortably in the bed, still looking at the ceiling. "I just...can't. Besides, I'm in Kanagawa right now."

A loud slapping sound came from the device which, as Ryuuko concluded, was a sound of Nonon slapping her own forehead. _"God dammit, Matoi, why are you always so fucking troublesome..."_ a short silence followed before Nonon picked up again. _"I saw that letter."_

Feeling her eyes widening slightly, Ryuuko sat up. "You mean-"

" _Yeah, I mean that blackmailing piece of crap you left in your room. You're welcome."_

Frowning again, the girl rubbed her temples. "Did you show it to Satsuki?" she deadpanned, ignoring the fact that Nonon couldn't see her anyway. "God dammit, Jakuzure, tell me you didn't."

" _No, I didn't,"_ Nonon answered and Ryuuko let out a sigh of relief. _"But I guess I can see now why you ran away so suddenly."_

"Great, thanks for being so perceptive," Ryuuko replied sarcastically. "What the hell were you doing in my room anyway?"

" _Not your business,"_ Nonon retorted, inducing an annoyed growl coming from Ryuuko. _"Anyway, I guess I should be happy because of the decision you've made but, urgh, I didn't think it would end up like that. I've never seen Satsuki-chan so broken in my entire life,"_ she added bitterly after a few seconds.

 _Broken._

Satsuki was...?

Ryuuko swallowed thickly, now gaping at the wall in front of her.

" _Oy, dumbass, you there?"_

"The fuck was I thinking..." Ryuuko muttered absent-mindedly, grabbing a fistful of her hair and resting her forehead against her knee.

" _Listen, I don't care what you're thinking. You gotta get your ass back here,"_ Nonon urged, her voice already back to sounding obnoxiously annoying.

"What about Yoru?"

" _Who?"_

"The girl who sent me this letter. The blackmailer," Ryuuko explained, clenching her fist at the memory of a person _kind enough_ to go out of her way just to ruin her whole life.

" _Wait, you know who did it?"_

"Well, yea? Not the first time she tried to screw our lives up. Been at it for a while, actually. I didn't think she'd go that far, though."

There was another slapping sound on the other side before Nonon spoke again, not hiding her irritation, _"And you didn't do **anything** about her? Are you stupid or what? That's not even like you, Matoi." _

"The fuck was I supposed to do?" Ryuuko raised her voice, clenching her fist and hitting the bed, suddenly all of her anger from the past days coming back to her with vengeance. "You read that letter. I didn't wanna risk Satsuki being hurt again," she said with anguish and closed her eyes, adding more calmly, "Guess I fucked everything up anyway."

Nonon sighed loudly. _"Whatever, no time for being all emo,"_ she replied in a dismissing manner before continuing more seriously, " _I'll have that idiot taken care of and **you** are going to come back here and fix this mess you've made this instant."_

"What?" Ryuuko gaped at her cell phone, one more time not sure if she heard correctly.

" _Geez, what now?"_

"Are you seriously gonna help us?" she asked in disbelief.

The line fell quiet for a moment and Ryuuko cursed under her breath, pretty certain that the call had just died.

" _Yea,"_ Nonon answered suddenly, immediately proving her wrong. _"Look, Matoi. I hate you. But I admit that you have guts and I know you care about Satsuki-chan. So do I. So don't make me repeat myself and get the hell back to the city."_

Ryuuko suddenly felt something in her mind being switched by these words. "I'm coming," she threw quickly, abruptly getting up from the bed and directing herself towards the door.

" _Great, when are you gonna be here?"_

Ryuuko stopped in the middle of her track. "Uh, shit," she cursed. "Er, in...a couple of hours," she replied, hearing an annoyed 'the fuck?' from her phone. "At best," she added, wondering if Nonon actually knew how long it would take her to come back by train from Kanagawa. "I'm gonna go catch the first train I manage but I dunno how well that's gonna go."

" _You're such an idiot I'm tempted to send a helicopter after you just to make sure you won't get lost along the way."_

"Thanks," Ryuuko retorted sarcastically before she composed herself and, wanting or not, said in a more honest way, "Really though, thanks, Jakuzure."

 _"Yeah, whatever,"_ Nonon replied indifferently. _"Don't think I'm doing any of that for you. Just...get here quickly."_

"Yea." Slamming her phone shut and shoving it into her pocket, Ryuuko hastily began putting her shoes on, suddenly remembering about something. And that something was really important, too. "Fuck..." she groaned, putting her palm to her face before turning around and stepping closer to Mako's desk, searching for anything to write on.

Finding a piece of paper and an old pencil, she quickly began scribbling hasty words.

 _Mako, I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly but something srsly urgent just came up and I gotta go back. I'll make our afternoon shopping up to you asap._

 _Ryuuko_

She looked at the message she had just written and sighed to herself. " _Now_ I feel like an idiot..." she mumbled, placing the piece of paper on top of the pillow and making an apologizing gesture before leaving the room.

As soon as she left the dorm, she sprinted towards the train station as fast as she could, not even bothering to try and catch a bus.

"Screw it," she cursed, pushing her legs to their very much inhumane limit.

When fifteen minutes later she found herself inside the departing train, she thought her lungs would burn along with her muscles. Shakily dropping down on one of the available sits, she kept panting until she could finally catch her breath, feeling a sudden wave of calmness washing over her when she felt the train beginning to move.

Calmness and hope. Were things actually going to get better after that long streak of failures that occurred? She really didn't know but there was a part of her that remained hopeful for the whole way that she spent on looking through the window and thinking of what she was going to tell Satsuki. And she truly had a lot to say.

When the train arrived to its destination, Ryuuko was way too impatient to wait for a bus or sit calmly inside a taxi she probably couldn't even pay for. Already well out of her breath, she stormed into the Golden Rose. Right before a couple entered the elevator, sending it twenty floors upwards.

Guess that was an already familiar view since the guard didn't even bother to look at Ryuuko with surprise any more.

"God, what's wrong with my luck," the girl muttered to herself, opening the door to the staircase and running upwards as fast as she could.

When she finally reached the door to Satsuki's apartment, she took a series of deep breaths, trying to not collapse on the floor, and weakly reached to her back pocket, only to remember that she gave her own pair of keys to Nonon. Just so she could visit Satsuki any time.

Cursing under her breath, she looked around, spotting a doorbell. Hesitantly, and suddenly _incredibly_ nervously, she pressed the button, hearing a muffled sound on the other side.

It didn't take long before the door opened, revealing annoyed, and impatiently-looking Nonon.

"You took your sweet time," the shorter girl greeted sarcastically.

Ignoring the comment, Ryuuko took a step inside.

"Nonon, who is this-" appearing suddenly in the hall, Satsuki froze in her tracks. "Ryuuko..." she whispered in disbelief.

"Um, hi, Sats," Ryuuko greeted awkwardly, averting her eyes while still discretely trying to catch her breath.

"I guess that's a cue for me to leave," Nonon interjected suddenly, nonchalantly putting her boots and jacket on. "Still gotta go somewhere." Turning to the door, she began waltzing outside the apartment, stopping for a second right next to Ryuuko. "Don't fuck this up," she whispered venomously, shoving discretely her set of keys back into her hand. "Or I'm gonna gouge your eyes out."

With that, she left.

Staring at each other stiffly, both girls remained unmoved for what it seemed like eternity until Ryuuko finally broke the silence. "Sats, I- uh," she stuttered before clenching her hands and trying to get a grip. "Listen, I know that, with all these things that I said yesterday it's probably gonna sound stupid now," she paused, suddenly losing her words that she chose so carefully during the long ride by train. She glanced at the floor, trying to gather them all back.

"It's fine."

"Eh?" Ryuuko looked at her sister who just stood still in front of her.

"I said it's fine. You were right," Satsuki picked up. Her voice was soft and collected again. "People may not be as accepting as we'd like them to be, and things may not go the way we want, at all," she spoke and took a deep breath. "If you feel that...breaking up with me is the only way then, as much as I want to, I can't stop you," she said, taking a short pause. "I just want you to know that, during my whole life, you're the only person I found worth sacrificing everything I have for."

The only thing Ryuuko could do in response was gape at Satsuki in bewilderment, not even trying to find her voice any more. Before she knew it, she was already taking a step forward and pulling her sister into a tight embrace. "Forgive me..." she whispered eventually, feeling the older girl returning the gesture.

Tightening her hold, Satsuki asked quietly, "For what?"

"For making all this mess, for never being honest with you," Ryuuko replied softly, feeling tears slowly gathering in her eyes.

"Ryuuko," Satsuki said and pulled back, looking her sister in the eyes. "I will always forgive you," she whispered before leaning in and stopping right before her lips touched Ryuuko's. "After all, I do love you, no matter what." With that, she felt herself being pulled into a blissfully chaste and tender kiss.

"I missed you, Sats," Ryuuko muttered after a moment, resting her forehead against Satsuki's.

"Me too," she heard in response. "You have no idea how much."

She felt a tear rolling down her cheek and, before she managed to say another 'sorry', she felt Satsuki's lips on her own again. Another single tear rolled down her face.

And this one did not belong to her.

 _ **End of Chapter 7**_

* * *

 **A/N:** Well, that concludes the main storyline. Originally, that's where the fic was supposed to end but, still, I felt that there is a lot of other issues left unresolved so I have an epilogue planned out.

Unlike the previous chapters, I'm going to release it in two weeks for, actually, two reasons. One being a terrible lack of creativity I'm facing right now, and I really don't want to post any half-baked content. Two is a major lack of free time to sit down and write in peace.

So, this time, that's a 'see you in two weeks'. Thank you for reading this far, I really hope that you enjoyed it and that I did not disappoint with the way things turned out. Stay tuned for the epilogue, I'll try to make up for the bitter-sweet content of the past two chapters~


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